March 2006 - Green Bay Packers Wiretap

Favre Leaning Towards Retirement

Jul 20, 2014 6:21 AM

Brett Favre would like to wait until training camp to decide whether to retire or return to the Green Bay Packers for a 16th season. But the quarterback realizes this amount of time is likely not a luxury he will be afforded. "I wish I knew where I stood," Favre told Chris Mortensen in an interview that aired as ESPN's Sunday Conversation. "If I had to pick right now and make a decision, I would say I'm not coming back." In the interview at his home in Mississippi, Favre told Mortensen he would like more time to decide whether to return for another NFL season. But he understands the Packers need to know soon to properly prepare for the NFL draft and other offseason personnel matters. "I'd like to wait till training camp," Favre said with a laugh. "But I know I have to make the decision in the next month for their sake." Favre said he's told Packers general manager Ted Thompson recently that if the team doesn't want to wait for him to commit to either playing the 2006 season or retiring, then he should be "cut loose." "I love the game too much and I love my legacy too much to have that just be OK," Favre said, "and I don't want to be just OK. I want to be good, and I don't know if I'm committed enough [right now] to be good on an everyday basis."

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Sherman Considers Offer To Become Houston Assistant

Jul 20, 2014 6:00 AM

Former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman met Friday with Houston Texans officials and is considering an offer to join first-year head coach Gary Kubiak's staff in the role of assistant head coach/offensive line. Sherman and Kubiak worked together on the Texas A&M staff under then-Aggies coach R.C. Slocum in 1992-93 and are said to have a solid relationship. Landing Sherman, who has rebuffed assistant coach offers from other franchises in the past 10 days, would be a coup for Kubiak as he continues to assemble his first staff. Sherman, 51, interviewed for head coach vacancies in New Orleans Saints and Buffalo Bills but lost out to Sean Payton and Dick Jauron, respectively, for those positions. He has also been approached in recent days by the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, in both cases for the offensive coordinator spot, but opted not to pursue those opportunities.

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Packers Promote Sanders To Defensive Coordinator

Sep 30, 2014 2:00 PM

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy filled out the last key position on his staff Saturday, promoting defensive ends coach Bob Sanders to defensive coordinator. Sanders will replace Jim Bates, who announced last week he wouldn't return to the team after he was passed over for the head coaching job. McCarthy said he tapped Sanders, a coaching veteran of 30 seasons who was with the Packers for only one, after a week of interviews. "I was impressed with Bob's football knowledge, and, equally, with him as a person and his character," said McCarthy, who was hired Jan. 12 to replace Mike Sherman. "I felt like this is someone I could have a partnership with and who I would have great confidence in to run our defense."

AP

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Packers' Bates Steps Down After Being Passed Over

Sep 30, 2014 1:14 PM

Jim Bates stepped down as Packers defensive coordinator Monday after getting passed over for the head coaching job. Bates decided to leave after several discussions with new coach Mike McCarthy. "I was disappointed when I didn't get job but that happens in this business," Bates said. "He applied for the job just like I did and I came in second, I hope I came in second. I'm going to be fine with whatever I choose." Bates said it would be hard to leave the Packers but accepted it was time to move on. "When you get that opportunity to be a head coach, you have a list of people you've worked with," Bates said. "I wanted to give him the chance to pick those people with whom he had relationships. I didn't want to get in his way."

AP

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McCarthy Wants Favre Back For Another Season

Nov 12, 2014 6:53 PM

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson didn't hire new coach Mike McCarthy as a way to get Brett Favre back for another year. But McCarthy's ties to Favre certainly didn't hurt his chances of getting the job. After being named coach Thursday, McCarthy said he would be the envy of other coaches if the star quarterback decides against retirement. "I don't think there's a coach in the National Football League who wouldn't love the opportunity to work with Brett Favre," McCarthy said. "We had a very positive working relationship in 1999, and I'm definitely looking forward to working with him again."

AP

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Packers To Hire Mike McCarthy

Dec 13, 2014 1:16 AM

The Green Bay Packers will fill their head coach vacancy with a former Brett Favre tutor, but not the one some people close to the quarterback had suggested might perhaps make an apt replacement for the deposed Mike Sherman. Packers general manager Ted Thompson has chosen San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy to be the team's new coach, with an official announcement likely later this week. The two sides must still negotiate a contract, but there aren't expected to be any major sticking points in those discussions. The job offer to McCarthy, one of seven candidates that Thompson interviewed, was confirmed to ESPN.com on Wednesday evening by NFL sources and also reported by ESPN's Chris Mortensen. McCarthy, 42, served as the Packers' quarterbacks coach in 1999, working with Favre. Last week, Favre's agent, James "Bus" Cook, suggested his client might more likely to return to the team in 2006 if Green Bay hired Steve Mariucci, a former Packers assistant who was later the head coach in San Francisco (1997-2002) and Detroit (2003-2005).

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Payton Impresses Green Bay Officials During Interview

Aug 4, 2014 7:09 PM

The Green Bay Packers continued their search for a head coach by interviewing Dallas Cowboys assistant head coach Sean Payton on Thursday. There wasn't immediate word on how the interview went, but most accounts said that Payton impressed officials with his intelligence and football acumen, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Payton, 42, played quarterback in college, served as quarterbacks coach under West Coast offense disciples Ray Rhodes and Jon Gruden in Philadelphia, and held offensive coordinator positions under Jim Fassel in New York and Parcells in Dallas. "He's the new breed guy coming up," a close friend of Payton's told the Journal Sentinel. "He's a head coach. He has no time for drama and everything else. He just wants to coach. He's interested in living a very balanced life." The combination of Payton and Ty Detmer, a candidate to become part of Payton's staff, could ease the coaching transition for Brett Favre. "Sean can show to Brett, 'This is where Kerry Collins was, this is where Drew Bledsoe was and this is how I got them to do what they should be doing,' " the friend told the paper. "That's one guy who could point to that."

ESPN.com

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Bates Scheduled To Interview With Green Bay

Nov 7, 2014 11:20 AM

If Green Bay Packers players got to vote, Jim Bates might be their next coach. Bates, the Packers' current defensive coordinator, will interview with general manager Ted Thompson next week for the head coaching job that opened when Mike Sherman was fired. Bates has the support of his defensive players -- just as he did in Miami at the end of the 2004 season, when Bates was the Dolphins' interim coach. He knows that isn't enough, but it can't hurt. "Players don't determine who's the next coach," Bates said Thursday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Green Bay. "It's always a positive, I think, that the players believe in me." Thompson announced Sherman's firing on Monday. Players expressed support for Sherman, but many said if he had to be replaced, they'd like to play for Bates. "I think there would be a lot of support for him to be a head coach," linebacker Nick Barnett said Monday. "If that's the route that Ted Thompson and the organization want to take, I'm sure there would be a lot of support for him."

AP

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Phillips To Interview With Green Bay

Oct 16, 2014 9:14 PM

San Diego Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will interview for the Green Bay Packers' vacant coaching job Monday, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Phillips, who just concluded his second year as an assistant to Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer, was the Buffalo Bills' coach from 1998-2000. He also was Denver's coach from 1993-94 and twice has served as an interim head coach, in New Orleans and Atlanta. Phillips is one of several candidates expected to be interviewed by Packers general manager Ted Thompson, who fired coach Mike Sherman on Monday.

AP

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Sherman Gone In Green Bay

Dec 16, 2014 5:45 AM

Just one day after completing the franchise's worst season since 1991, the Green Bay Packers on Monday dismissed head coach Mike Sherman. The move, which was announced at a morning news conference, came despite the fact the Packers awarded Sherman a two-year contract extension worth about $6.4 million last summer. It also fuels speculation about the future of quarterback Brett Favre, who said several times during the season that he would not return in 2006 if Sherman was not retained by Packers officials. "At the end of the day I felt like we needed to go in a different direction," Packers general manager Ted Thompson said at a news conference. Green Bay concluded the '05 season with a victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in a game that might have been Favre's swan song. There was also speculation it might have been the finale for Sherman as well, and Thompson apprised the head coach Monday morning that he would not return.

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