Welcome to Monday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.
MONDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:
NHL: Bruins at Rangers, 7 p.m. (NESN)
College football: National championship, Alabama vs. Clemson, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN; WEEI-FM)
College basketball: Bucknell at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m. (CBSSN)
AROUND THE WEB:
— Last month Rex Ryan hinted a possible reunion with his twin brother, Rob, saying “it is fun to be around him, there’s no question about it, and I know he’s a great coach.” On Sunday Rex made it official, announcing that Rob would be his assistant head coach for defense.
“I’m excited to have Rob join our staff and I think he will be a great asset for our defense,” Rex said in a statement. “He has a tremendous working knowledge of our schemes and I look forward to his input.”
What’s not clear is the fate of last year’s defensive coordinator, Dennis Thurman, who has assisted Rex for many years. Rex made no announcement regarding other staffing changes.
The Ryan brothers last worked together in 1995 when they were Cardinals assistants on a team coached by their father, Buddy. Rob then moved to college before returning to the pros to coach linebackers for the Patriots under Bill Belichick from 2000-03. He then served as an assistant for the Raiders, Browns, Cowboys and most recently the Saints, who fired him as defensive coordinator in November.
“On a personal note, it’s been a number of years since we have worked together,” Rex said. “And so we are both really looking forward to this opportunity.”
— Lionel Hollins’ tenure as Nets coach last just a season and a half, as he was fired Sunday following the team’s 10-27 start, second worst in the league. And general manager Billy King, in the final year of his contract, was reassigned.
Now the team reportedly has its sights set on John Calipari. According to a Yahoo! Sports report, the Nets want the Kentucky coach to be coach and team president.
“It’s clear from our current state of affairs that we need new leadership,” owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in a statement. “With the right basketball management and coach in place, we are going to create a winning culture and identity and give Brooklyn a team that it can be proud of and enjoy watching.”
Assistant coach Tony Brown will coach the team on an interim basis.
King and the Nets went all in in an attempt to win a championship, acquiring Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Celtics in 2013 (the C’s now own Brooklyn’s top draft pick this year). It only got the Nets one playoff series victory.
Prokhorov, who has a news conference scheduled for Monday, recently agreed to purchase the minority shares of co-owner Bruce Ratner.
“We have learned a great deal during the past six years and our experiences will guide us for the future,” Prokhorov said. “Following the consolidation of team ownership last month, I can assure you that I’m more determined and committed than ever to build a winner.”
— Tom Brady‘s agent, Tom Yee, has long been a supporter of college athletes getting paid, and on Friday he suggested it might take a boycott — such as one of Monday’s national championship game between Alabama and Clemson — to get the NCAA to change its ways.
In a guest column he wrote for The Washington Post, Yee noted that it’s mainly young black men who are making the NCAA its money, bringing up the Missouri players’ midseason boycott after a racial incident on campus that led to the resignations of the school’s president and chancellor. Yee wrote: [W]e need to stop ignoring the racial implications of the NCAA‘s hypocrisy. … [B]y refusing to pay athletes, the NCAA isn’t just perpetuating a financial injustice. It’s also committing a racial one.
Added Yee: Change, however, could come rapidly and fairly easily. If even a small group of players took a stand and refused to participate ‘ imagine if they boycotted or delayed the start of Monday night’s championship game ‘ administrators would have to back down. There’s too much money on the line, and no one could force the teams to play against their will. The schools and the NCAA would simply have to renegotiate the bargain with football and basketball players.
ON THIS DAY TRIVIA (answer below): On Jan. 11, 1977, with a 3-2 victory over the Capitals, which player became the fifth goaltender to record 100 career wins with the Bruins?
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You’re confident, but you never think that you have it or take it for granted. I just didn’t put a swing on it that would be acceptable by any standards.” — Vikings kicker Blair Walsh, after missing a 27-yard field goal attempt with 27 seconds remaining in his team’s 10-9 playoff loss to the Seahawks
STAT OF THE DAY: 21 — Points by which the Celtics led the Grizzlies in the third quarter Sunday, before Boston squandered the lead and dropped a 101-98 decision
‘NET RESULTS (mobile users, check the website to see the videos): Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis sneaks in from under the basket and delivers an impressive follow-up slam dunk against the Bucks.
Cavaliers star LeBron James takes a basketball to the face during warmups Sunday.
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scores his 500th career goal.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Gilles Gilbert
SOOTHING SOUNDS: Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011, was born on this day in 1942.
