Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here is every Chargers head coach, from Sid Gillman to Brandon Staley.
In light of the Chargers firing Brandon Staley, here is a look at the team’s head coaching history and each of their records.
There are 28 teams from the United States, three from Europe and one from Canada.
CARTERSVILE, Ga. – Ninety-six of the world’s best senior amateur golfers are set to duke it out for team and individual glory at Cartersville Country Club.
Twenty-eight teams from the United States, three teams from Europe and a team from Canada have descended on CCC. Among them are some of the biggest names in the senior amateur game.
Reigning Walker Cup captain Mike McCoy is captaining Team Iowa alongside teammates Terry Cook and Joe Palmer. Doug Hanzel (Georgia), Jon Lindstrom (Colorado) and Bob Royak (Georgia) are the top three ranked seniors in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). The field boasts 10 of the top 50 WAGR seniors and two of the top 20 European seniors.
This week, it’s not just about the golf legends. Former NFL quarterbacks Stan Humphries and Billy Joe Tolliver are also teeing it up this week. Tolliver and Humphries, who played in Super Bowl 29 with the then-San Diego Chargers, both are feeding their craving for competition as they tee it up with the best in the game.
Nine Europeans have made the trip across the pond to test their game against a stacked field of Yanks.
Leading the charge is Team Scotland, who have No. 4 ranked WAGR European senior Ronnie Clark and are captained by No. 20 ranked Derek Patton.
Team Ireland, Germany and Canada are all vying for the upset to take home the International crown.
As the Golfweek senior amateur season begins to come to a close, the Golfweek Player of the Year race is just heating up. With 16 players inside the top 100 of the Golfweek player rankings, individual PoY points are on the line, making this week just that much more important.
Golfweek No. 1 Bob Royak has less than a 900 point lead on Doug Hanzel. No. 3 ranked Rusty Strawn, No. 6 Jon Lindstrom and No. 10 Mike Combs can all make a huge jump in the rankings this week with a strong finish or even a win.
Combs (1990 Public Links), Hanzel (2013 Senior Am), Royak (2019 Senior Am), Strawn (2022 Senior Am) and Mike McCoy (2013 Mid-Am) are the five USGA championship winners in the field this week with another near countless amount of USGA championship starts among them as well as their fellow competitors.
Play begins Thursday, Oct. 5 at 8 a.m. ET. Live scoring is available on Golf Genius (GGID: 23GWISI).
How many of these players do you remember?
Talk to any back who’s had a great football game, and they almost always will give credit to their offensive linemen. Those are the guys who make every explosive offensive play possible. They will do whatever it takes to hold off the attacking defense. They seldom get any glory compared to those backs and receivers, but no offense can function without them.
While every college football blocker is good, some are just so much better than others. So in light of that, we’ve asked AI writing tool ChatGPT to list what it believes are the 10 best to ever block for Notre Dame offenses. It doesn’t matter which position they played. They just have to have excelled at whatever it was.
This concludes us putting ChatGPT to work ranking Notre Dame players by offensive position. We’ve already ranked ChatGPT’s 10 best quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and tight ends. Now, we look at the offense’s unsung heroes. Here they are with the entries edited for accuracy:
Trevor Lawrence is a key leader for the Jaguars’ offense and a source of relief for the defensive unit as he enters his third season in Jacksonville.
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence has grown tremendously in his first two seasons, going from a struggling rookie to a projected dark horse Most Valuable Player candidate.
As the Jaguars prepare for his third season under center, Lawrence is viewed as a key leader for the offense and a source of relief for the defense.
“His voice carries a lot of weight,” Jaguars quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy said. “When he speaks up, whether it’s in practice, whether it’s in a meeting, whether it’s on game day, everybody listens.”
This year, Lawrence doesn’t have to learn a new offense for the first time in his young professional career. Lawrence knows all the details of the offense, McCoy said, so he needs to communicate with his teammates if something is off.
McCoy said Lawrence had to work to learn the new system early on. He improved from the first day of the 2022 offseason to the first regular-season game in Washington to the final game of the playoffs in Kansas City, McCoy said.
Senior defensive assistant Bob Sutton said Lawrence proved himself as a “really good quarterback” last season and said the team got better as he improved.
“We played really good team football, complementary football,” Sutton said. “Anytime you have a quarterback like that, there’s a feeling like, ‘OK, just get him the ball one more time.’”
Lawrence and the offense have enough talent to give the defense hope in crucial moments of games, Sutton said.
“You never really get totally down,” Sutton said. “You just say, ‘Hey, we gotta go to work, we gotta make these stops,’ and this guy’s got a chance, and he’s got some really good people around him as well.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]
Walker Taylor, 61, leads the 2023 Golfweek Senior National Championship.
[connatix div_id=”3f8b015acdd24c648befc5d5dac47469″ player_id=”b5b22055-8c69-4186-8375-d8426b37ec56″ cid=”7cbcea0d-4ce2-4c75-9a8d-fbe02a192c24″]
Walker Taylor, 61, leads the 2023 Golfweek Senior National Championship after Monday’s first round at Grandover Resort (The East Course) in Greensboro, North Carolina. The scene is a dose of deja vu for the North Carolina native who led the tournament after one round last year.
Pacing the field with an opening 68, the former touring professional and three-time Ironman competitor out of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, had himself quite the back nine.
One under through 10, Taylor found the hazard on the par-4 11th. After a three-putt double bogey, Taylor was a bit irritated with himself as he walked to the 12th tee.
“I was actually standing on that tee and I was kind of mad at myself but I was calm,” he said. “I was like ‘Man, maybe if you ace you get back to under par.’”
Stepping into his tee shot on the 117-yard par 3, Taylor didn’t feel comfortable and backed off to reset and find the right mind space before hitting his next shot.
Flushing his wedge, Taylor one-hopped his ball right into the hole for an ace, immediately erasing the damage done on the previous hole.
The ace is Taylor’s ninth of his career but first in competition play.
With the good fortune, Taylor resumed his near-automatic play as he looked to finish strong. Birdies on Nos. 13, 14, 17 and 18 resulted in Taylor playing his final seven holes at 5 under par and granted him a first-round 68.
Currently an insurance broker, Taylor has plenty of experience playing on big stages. After finishing college at Clemson, Taylor made it to the final stage of European Tour Q-School and even made a PGA Tour start before hanging up his professional golf dream.
Since regaining his amateur status in 1989, Taylor has teed it up in five U.S. Mid-Ams, four British Amateurs, two U.S. Amateurs and most recently has advanced to match play in both of his U.S. Senior Amateur appearances. He’ll be making a trip across the pond later this summer to play in his third British Senior Amateur.
With 29 putts and 15 of 18 greens hit on the day, Taylor looks to build upon his hot start with one mantra borrowed from his good friend and Walker Cup Captain, Mike McCoy: “Keep moseyin’ on.”
He’ll have plenty of competition with one of the best fields of the year lurking behind him.
Georgia’s Mike Combs, ranked No. 15 in Golfweek’s Senior Amateur Rankings, posted a 1-under 71 and is tied for second alongside Alabama’s Michael Arasin (No. 20). Another friend of Taylor’s, Sherrill Britt (No. 79), carded an even-par round to take sole possession of fourth place through 18 holes. Golfweek No. 1 Vance Welch looks to apply some pressure after an opening round 73, giving him a three-way share of fifth place alongside Golfweek’s No. 10 senior amateur Rick Cloninger.
Other notables: 2022 Golfweek Senior National Champion Kevin VandenBerg (+6, T18), Carolina amatuer golf legend Paul Simson (+4, T14)
Randy King holds a one-shot lead following a first-round 73. Bill Long (+2) and Bob Edens (+3) lead the rest of the pack of nine players within five strokes of the lead.
Charley Yandell earned the top spot in the Legends age bracket with an opening 71. The score holds as one of just four rounds under par and the only sub-par round outside of the Senior division.
Bill Engel and Frank Costanzo share the lead at 1 over. John Blank (+3) looks to give chase ahead of a three-man group at 4 over.
Trevor Lawrence endured first-year struggles in the NFL last season, throwing 17 interceptions (tied for the league high) with 12 touchdown passes while completing 59.6 percent of his passes for 3,641 yards and posting a passer rating of 71.9 that …
Trevor Lawrence endured first-year struggles in the NFL last season, throwing 17 interceptions (tied for the league high) with 12 touchdown passes while completing 59.6 percent of his passes for 3,641 yards and posting a passer rating of 71.9 that ranked 30th in the NFL.
While the former Clemson and current Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback suffered growing pains as a rookie last season, Jaguars quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy has seen growth this offseason from the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
McCoy spoke at the end of the Jaguars’ offseason work about the improvement that Lawrence made during organized team activities, saying that Lawrence is making his progressions quicker and gaining a solid understanding of the new offense being installed by first-year Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson.
“The last couple of days through the OTAs, you see some of the checks that he’s made the line of scrimmage,” McCoy said, via Pro Football Talk. “He’s making quicker decisions now.”
The Jaguars hope to see Lawrence build on his strong finish to the 2021 campaign and play like the quarterback he was in Jacksonville’s regular-season finale against the Indianapolis Colts, when he went 23-of-32 passing for 223 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while leading the Jaguars to a 26-11 win.
–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Dear Old Clemson’s first event is July 24. Now there is a new way to support Clemson student athletes. Come out and meet the freshmen football players at this meet and greet autograph session. If you sign up for certain club levels you get free access to all Dear Old Clemson events. Purchase your tickets today at Dear Old Clemson.
The Jaguars new QB coach, Mike McCoy, has already been impressed with Trevor Lawrence after only two months on the job.
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson hired Mike McCoy in February to be the team’s quarterback coach, meaning he’s only been able to work with second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence for about two months. Even in that short period, he said he’s been impressed with Lawrence on a recent episode of the “O-Zone Podcast,” which is hosted by Jags beat writer John Oehser.
“We have a quarterback that can be special,” McCoy said. “He has a lot of work ahead of him. He understands that and we understand that. There’s a reason he was picked as high as he was picked last year and where he went. He has a very bright future.
“I love his attitude and his approach to everything. He has learned from last year. He’s asked great questions in the couple meetings we’ve had so far. It means something to him. He understands his role in the organization. It’s an exciting time for everybody, for our fans and for all of us as coaches.”
It’s a critical year for Lawrence’s development after his struggles last season. He finished his rookie campaign completing only 59.6% of his passes for 3,641 yards, 12 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions. However, some of the blame can be pinned on the Urban Meyer debacle.
It’s imperative Pederson and McCoy get Lawrence’s development back on track, so the Jaguars can get out of this stretch of mediocrity that they’ve been in since the 2017 playoff run.
The USGA is shaking things up regarding who captains the Americans in the next two Walker Cup matches.
The U.S. Golf Association is shaking things up regarding who captains the Americans in the next two Walker Cup matches.
On Wednesday Mike McCoy was announced as the captain for Team USA for the 2023 Walker Cup at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland. Nathan Smith will lead the squad two years later in the matches at Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California.
This will be the first time since 1995 that a U.S. Walker Cup captain won’t be at the helm for two matches.
“Given the exceptional nature of the venues, we wanted to give both Mike and Nathan the opportunity to be a part of one of these next two Matches,” said USGA Chief Championships Officer John Bodenhamer in a statement to Golfweek. “In addition, given the strong and growing list of candidates we have of potential USA Walker Cup Team captains, while historically we have often awarded each both a home and away match, moving forward we feel comfortable providing this opportunity for one match and re-evaluating as needed.”
“Both Mike and Nathan have long, exceptional histories with the USGA and outstanding amateur golf resumes,” said USGA president Stu Francis via a release. “Given the historic nature of the next two matches being staged at St. Andrews and Cypress Point, we wanted to give both of them the time to enjoy this leadership opportunity and plan their next few years accordingly. We congratulate each of them on an honor well deserved and look forward to watching them lead two talented USA Teams.”
McCoy, 59, became the second-oldest winner of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 2013, has teed it up in 65 USGA championships and was a member of the 2015 U.S. Walker Cup Team at Royal Lytham & St Annes in England, the third-oldest player to ever compete in the matches.
“I am humbled to be chosen captain of the next USA Walker Cup Team,” said McCoy. “It will again be a privilege to be a part of the Walker Cup competition that I was so fortunate to be a part of in 2015. My experiences with the USGA, and the Walker Cup Match, have provided some of the most unforgettable weeks of my life, and I’m thrilled to build new memories with members of next year’s team. I look forward to the diligent preparation that will be required for the challenge of the Old Course.”
Smith, 43, has competed in 48 USGA championships as well as three consecutive Walker Cups from 2009-2013.
“Historically, I understand that there is no greater honor than being named captain of the USA Walker Cup Team,” said Smith. “I am ecstatic at the opportunity to lead this team at such a historic and storied venue. Providing the winning point for the USA during the 2013 Match is a memory I will never forget, and that accomplished feeling is something I’m focused on providing for the team in 2025.”
The Walker Cup is a biennial amateur event between 10-man teams from the USA against Great Britain and Ireland. Team USA leads the all-time series, 38-9-1.
[vertical-gallery id=778103013]
Why do the Jaguars need an offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and passing-game coordinator? Pederson explains here.
Jacksonville’s quarterback room will be a bit crowded this offseason. The team’s priority is developing Trevor Lawrence, and new coach Doug Pederson isn’t messing around.
He is himself an offensive mind with a background of playing and coaching the quarterback position, and he brought on an army of assistants to support Lawrence.
Pederson hired Colts offensive assistant Press Taylor as his offensive coordinator, and Taylor will be supported by quarterback coach Mike McCoy and passing-game coordinator Jim Bob Cooter. Both have extensive NFL play-calling experience, and the former has been a head coach.
It may sound like there will be a lot of overlap with these roles, and that could certainly prove to be the case. But Pederson explained some of the specific duties each will have in their respective roles.
“Mike McCoy is the quarterback coach. He’s going to coach the quarterbacks,” Pederson said. “He’ll also be involved with game planning. That’s one of the things I like to do in the places I’ve been is we like to interject everybody and their ideas, but Mike will coach the quarterbacks.
“Jim Bob as a pass game coordinator can assist the coordinator. He can assist — it’s just another way of looking at it without coaching a position, right. It’s another way of breaking down defenses, help Press wherever he needs help. He can assist in the tight end room or the receiver room or wherever it might be, and then also help us with game planning.
“Everything will run through Press Taylor. He is the offensive coordinator. Between he and I, we’ll make the final decisions on everything that we do offensively.”
Ultimately, it seems like the roles will be similar, with McCoy focusing on Lawrence and Cooter working with all aspects of the passing game while Taylor oversees it all.
Most teams in the league now have pass and run game coordinators on offense, and some (including the Jags) have those roles filled on the defensive side of the ball.
Pederson said this change is a result of taking advantage of all the resources available to coaches and getting multiple eyes and perspectives on the game plan.
“You know, it’s always the interesting question, right, why a pass game coordinator or a run game coordinator on defense, why a passing game coordinator on offense,” he said. “I just think, too, there’s a lot of — with the technology and the data and the availability of information that’s out there, it’s again, another set of eyes to help us when we put game plans together. It helps us break down all the data, all the information that we’re getting from Exos or PFF or whatever it might be on our players, on our opponents. Some of it’s analytical obviously.
“Having those guys in place to — because as a head coach you’ve got a lot of responsibilities doing other things. You’re diving into the defense, you’re diving into special teams, you’re in a meeting over here, I’m talking with Trent or whatever it might be, so having that extra guy, offense, defense, really benefits the coordinator, but it can really help me, as well.”
After the way the offense looked in 2021, Pederson can’t be too careful. Lawrence struggled as a rookie, tying for the league lead in interceptions, and the receiving corps didn’t give him much help.
Changing things in 2022 starts with the support staff around these players, and when it comes to that, Pederson has done a very solid job so far.
Listen to the latest from Jags Wire’s Phil Smith and James Johnson on the “Touchdown Jaguars!” podcast via Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
McCoy hasn’t coached since 2018, but has coached notables like Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers throughout his career.
One of the biggest questions that have been asked about Doug Pederson’s staff is who will be the coach directly working with Trevor Lawrence as his positional coach. Now, thanks to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, we know who it will be.
The coach tasked with that job will be former San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy, who is making a return to the NFL after last coaching in 2018.
The #Jaguars are hiring former #Chargers coach Mike McCoy as their QB coach, sources tell @RapSheet and me. Another layer of support for Trevor Lawrence.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 8, 2022
McCoy, 49, will bring 19 years of NFL coaching experience with him, including four as a head coach. The highlight of his career included coaching Peyton Manning and Philip Rivers, both of whom were among the top quarterbacks of the decade that just passed (2010-20).
A majority of McCoy’s career was as an assistant with the Carolina Panthers (2000-08), holding roles as an offensive assistant, quarterbacks, and receivers coach to name a few.
After his time with Carolina, McCoy had stints with the Denver Broncos, where he coached Manning and other notables like Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. Then came his stint as a head coach with San Diego where he garnered a record of 27-37.
Afterward, his next two stops came with Denver (2017) for a second stint, then he also had a run with the Arizona Cardinals (2018). During both of those runs he was fired, but it’s worth noting that those runs were as an offensive coordinator.
Brian Schottenheimer previously held the role of being the Jags’ quarterbacks coach under Urban Meyer. However, many expected Pederson to replace many of the Jags’ former assistants, especially on offense when considering his connections as an offensive coach.
