Fast Break
College football
Cal Poly coach hired at Army
Army filled its coaching vacancy by heeding a core West Point value: History matters.
Rich Ellerson grew up around Black Knights football and is leaving his coaching job at Cal Poly to come to a place he knows well. His father and two brothers graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, where brother John led the 1962 team to a 6-4 record. He’s also worked before with former Army coaches known for running successful schemes on both sides of the ball.
Ellerson replaces Stan Brock, who was fired Dec. 12 after a pair of 3-9 seasons.
Cal Poly made it to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs twice under Ellerson and was ranked as high as No. 3 this season. He was 56-34 in his eight years at Cal Poly.
NFL
Make no mistake: Dallas staff safe
Wade Phillips will be back as coach of the Dallas Cowboys next season, and Jason Garrett will remain in charge of the offense, regardless of whether the team makes the playoffs, club owner Jerry Jones said.
He said it vehemently.
“The coaches are in place. I’ve said that. How can I be any clearer?” Jones said. “Look, I’ve said that our coaching staff, as far as I’m concerned, is in place. I just want to make the statement rather than answer questions, because your questions imply certain things that I don’t want to imply.”
Still, the questions continued because this team that went 13-3 last season and owned the No. 1 seed in the NFC is 9-6 and trying to grab the last available wild-card into this season’s playoffs. What if they don’t make the playoffs? Could things change then?
“Look, can y’all not understand statements?” Jones said. “I really don’t understand what is going on. The coaching staff is in place. The coaching staff is in place. The building is here. You want to ask the question, what if it blows down?”
Hockey
Chiefs hosts to Americans
The Spokane Chiefs return from their Christmas break to host the Tri-City Americans at the Arena at 7 tonight.
Tri-City and Spokane are 1-2 in the Western Hockey League U.S. Division standings.
The game will be shown on Comcast channel 78.
The Chiefs will be without five players: Dustin Tokarski, Drayson Bowman, Mitch Wahl and Tyler Johnson, who are playing in the World Junior Hockey Tournament, and Blake Gal, who is playing in the U-17 World Hockey Challenge.