Sean Payton to Arkansas?

Could Sean Payton be a serious candidate for the Arkansas job as an interim coach?

CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson discusses the possibility with Jon Rothstein on the Tim Brando show, earlier today.

 

Rothstein asks a key question: Why would Arkansas—in the middle of an ugly PR crisis—hire a coach to teach life lessons for one year, when the coach himself is in the middle of perhaps the biggest PR crisis in the history of the NFL?

My sense is that Arkansas briefly considered the possibility and dismissed it because of that very question.

That doesn’t mean athletic director Jeff Long won’t bring in another coach with NFL creds. Another name being tossed around is former 49er and Lions coach Steve Mariucci.

There were reports earlier this week that Long was prepared to name a coach next week, perhaps as early as Monday. Those reports also suggested that Long would promote one of Petrino’s assistants to an interim slot and conduct a full search at the end of the 2012 season. But which assistant would take on the interim tag, risk a disastrous season, and therefore risk his marketability as a future head coach?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to bring in an experienced coach who’s currently out of work, let him attempt to salvage the 2012 season and start anew in December? I don’t see Payton being that guy, but that seems to be the most reasonable approach right now.

Or, maybe Long should go ahead and take my advice and hire Mike Shula.

Disturbing audio of Gregg Williams’ “Bounty Speech” released

I won’t embed the profanity-laced media, but you can click the link and hear a heavily edited audio recording of former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ speech to his players before the 49ers game in last season’s playoffs.

In the 3-1/2 minute recording, Williams talks about “killing the head,” specifically referencing 49er running back Frank Gore; and mentions “little number 32,” apparently referencing running back and kick return specialist Kendall Hunter. A few moments later in the recording, Williams mentions quarterback Alex Smith, encouraging the team to ‘kill the [expletive] head.”

The recording was made my documentary film maker Sean Pamphilon, who was working on a movie about former Saints player Steve Gleason. Gleason suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. Some researchers have linked repeated concussions to the onset of ALS or a form of encephalopathy that mimics ALS (this research is not without controversy).

Head injuries are a major focus of the league’s ongoing safety crusade, so Williams’ repeated encouragement to “kill the head” is disturbing. Football is a violent sport, but the violence of the impact is supposed to be incidental, not intentional.

The Bounty Scandal led to fines and suspensions of the Saints’ head coach Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis and Williams himself. Loomis’ suspension is for eight games. Payton’s suspension is for the entire 2012 season.

Williams has been suspended “indefinitely,” and is unlikely to ever coach football again.

UPDATE: @BustedCoverage has a link to the full 12-minute version.

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