Durango53
12-15-2003, 11:40 AM
ATLANTA -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Rich McKay, the architect of last year's Super Bowl champions, today will be named to the same position with the Atlanta Falcons, ESPN.com has learned.
The Falcons will announce McKay's hiring at a 12:30 p.m. ET news conference.
Rumors swirled over the weekend that McKay's hiring was a done deal, but as of Sunday he and the team still needed to work out some variables in the contract. McKay had told confidants that most of the contract's key components were in place and that he had expected to close the deal this week.
The Bucs play host to the Falcons on Saturday. McKay was not in the Bucs offices Friday and did not attend Sunday's home game against the Houston Texans.
Tampa Bay ownership officially announced Thursday that it had granted McKay permission to seek another job without his new team having to pay compensation to the Bucs. McKay and Blank met Sunday -- their first official talks in more than a year -- but plenty of groundwork already was in place.
The two sides have been careful not to breach league anti-tampering rules, which preclude official contact between McKay and Blank, but each side knows precisely what it will take to consummate an agreement.
McKay had additional options he could have considered, but he likes Blank, already feels a loyalty to him, and the Atlanta job is the one he desired. The other options did not include taking a position in the NFL's front office, although McKay has often been mentioned in league circles as a potential candidate for the commissioner's job someday.
Blank first interviewed McKay in 2002, shortly after he bought the Falcons from the heirs of the late Rankin Smith, who founded the franchise. The Bucs sought compensation at the time but Blank was not inclined then to meet the demands, so McKay signed a six-year contract extension worth $2.4 million annually.
Blank interviewed other candidates recommended to him by the Manhattan-based search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, but could not identify a candidate he liked nearly as much as McKay, and the general manager position remained vacant.
McKay, 44, almost certainly will get a long-term contract from the Falcons, with a base salary commensurate to what Tampa Bay is currently paying him.
On the coaching front, LSU athletic director Skip Bertman said Friday that the Falcons have not sought permission to speak with head coach Nick Saban about their vacancy, but that means little. There is no protocol between the NFL and NCAA that would require the Falcons to ask for such permission.
League teams often do, as a matter of courtesy, apprise an athletic director when they are speaking to a school's coach, but are not bound to do so.
Saban has been characterized here as the name atop the Falcons' wish list, but his team is getting ready to play for the national championship, and the Sugar Bowl matchup against Oklahoma will occupy much of his focus in coming days. And there is this angle, too, that might cause Saban to look askance at the Falcons: He may not want to be with a club that could be very top-heavy in the front office and where the system of corporate-type checks and balances might be perceived as ponderous.
That could significantly enhance the possible candidacy of St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, a one-time Tampa Bay assistant coach who has done a terrific job in his current role, and with whom McKay is very familiar.
Nice move by the Faclons trying to upgrade
The Falcons will announce McKay's hiring at a 12:30 p.m. ET news conference.
Rumors swirled over the weekend that McKay's hiring was a done deal, but as of Sunday he and the team still needed to work out some variables in the contract. McKay had told confidants that most of the contract's key components were in place and that he had expected to close the deal this week.
The Bucs play host to the Falcons on Saturday. McKay was not in the Bucs offices Friday and did not attend Sunday's home game against the Houston Texans.
Tampa Bay ownership officially announced Thursday that it had granted McKay permission to seek another job without his new team having to pay compensation to the Bucs. McKay and Blank met Sunday -- their first official talks in more than a year -- but plenty of groundwork already was in place.
The two sides have been careful not to breach league anti-tampering rules, which preclude official contact between McKay and Blank, but each side knows precisely what it will take to consummate an agreement.
McKay had additional options he could have considered, but he likes Blank, already feels a loyalty to him, and the Atlanta job is the one he desired. The other options did not include taking a position in the NFL's front office, although McKay has often been mentioned in league circles as a potential candidate for the commissioner's job someday.
Blank first interviewed McKay in 2002, shortly after he bought the Falcons from the heirs of the late Rankin Smith, who founded the franchise. The Bucs sought compensation at the time but Blank was not inclined then to meet the demands, so McKay signed a six-year contract extension worth $2.4 million annually.
Blank interviewed other candidates recommended to him by the Manhattan-based search firm Russell Reynolds Associates, but could not identify a candidate he liked nearly as much as McKay, and the general manager position remained vacant.
McKay, 44, almost certainly will get a long-term contract from the Falcons, with a base salary commensurate to what Tampa Bay is currently paying him.
On the coaching front, LSU athletic director Skip Bertman said Friday that the Falcons have not sought permission to speak with head coach Nick Saban about their vacancy, but that means little. There is no protocol between the NFL and NCAA that would require the Falcons to ask for such permission.
League teams often do, as a matter of courtesy, apprise an athletic director when they are speaking to a school's coach, but are not bound to do so.
Saban has been characterized here as the name atop the Falcons' wish list, but his team is getting ready to play for the national championship, and the Sugar Bowl matchup against Oklahoma will occupy much of his focus in coming days. And there is this angle, too, that might cause Saban to look askance at the Falcons: He may not want to be with a club that could be very top-heavy in the front office and where the system of corporate-type checks and balances might be perceived as ponderous.
That could significantly enhance the possible candidacy of St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith, a one-time Tampa Bay assistant coach who has done a terrific job in his current role, and with whom McKay is very familiar.
Nice move by the Faclons trying to upgrade