Josh McDaniels has backed out of a deal to become the Indianapolis’ Colts new coach http://www.officialflames.com/authentic-adidas-jaromir-jagr-jersey , a decision that shocked the franchise hours after it announced his hiring.

The Colts confirmed McDaniels’ decision in a statement Tuesday night after reports emerged that the Patriots’ offensive coordinator had opted to stay in New England with coach Bill Belichick.

McDaniels had agreed to contract terms with the Colts to replace the fired Chuck Pagano, and a news conference had been scheduled for Wednesday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Just a few hours later, the Colts said McDaniels informed them he would not sign the deal.

”Although we are surprised and disappointed, we will resume our head coaching search immediately and find the right fit to lead our team and organization on and off the field,” the Colts said in the statement.

The Patriots and McDaniels’ agent, Bob LaMonte, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

”I’m speechless,” former Colts receiver Reggie Wayne told NFL Network. ”I’ve talked with people in the Colts organization and they feel like they’ve been hoodwinked.”

It’s also not clear how the Colts will proceed from here.

By spurning Indy after it waited 22 days for the playoffs to end, McDaniels leaves the reeling franchise as the only one without a coach – in early February. New England’s defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, left Belichick’s staff a day after the Patriots’ Super Bowl loss to become coach of the Detroit Lions.

Indy had interviewed several candidates for the job Christopher Tanev Jersey , including two that were hired by other teams – Matt Nagy went to Chicago and Mike Vrabel to Tennessee. Another potential candidate, Baylor coach Matt Rhule, had already announced he was returning to the college ranks before the Colts had settled on McDaniels, who at age 41 is considered one of the game’s best young minds.

He’s been considered a top-tier head coaching candidate for several years even though his only other coaching stint with Denver ended badly. He went 8-8 with the Broncos in 2009 and 3-9 in 2010 before he was fired with three games left in the season. He worked with the St. Louis Rams in 2011 before returning to New England in 2012, where he has been the offensive coordinator ever since.

And turning down his second chance, after agreeing to a deal with Indy, could make other teams outside of New England more hesitant to hire McDaniels. His decision will also have ramifications for the coaches who were set to join his staff.

It’s unusual but not unprecedented in league history for a deal with a new coach to fall through at the last minute. McDaniels’ move was eerily reminiscent of his mentor, Belichick, who resigned as coach of the Jets with a handwritten note less than a day after he was hired in 2000.

Although McDaniels never signed his contract with Indianapolis, his stint was even shorter. The team announced his hiring on its Twitter account late Tuesday morning. Hours later, the Colts had deleted the tweet and replaced it with the statement about his withdrawal.

Pagano was fired Dec. 31 after the team finished 4-12 in a season without injured quarterback Andrew Luck.

Within days of Pagano’s ouster Oliver Ekman-Larsson Jersey , Colts general manager Chris Ballard interviewed McDaniels during the Patriots’ postseason bye week. Two weeks later, reports indicated the deal was all but finished and potential suitors, like the New York Giants, started hiring other coaches.

Now the Colts find themselves in perhaps the toughest position of all – finding a new coach in February.

In Indianapolis, where the fan base already loathed the Patriots, McDaniels’ sudden change of heart didn’t go over well.

The City of Noblesville, a northern suburb of Indy, put this on Twitter: ”Unlike Josh McDaniels, we stay true to our commitments. Noblesville street crews will be out tonight once winter weather hits you can `do your job’ tomorrow.”

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LAS VEGAS — The Los Angeles Kings‘ chances of at least earning a split of their first two Western Conference first-round playoff road games with the Vegas Golden Knights got a whole lot more difficult late Thursday afternoon.

That’s when the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that Kings top defenseman Drew Doughty, a Norris Trophy candidate who led the league in total minutes, was suspended for one game for “an illegal hit to the head” on Vegas forward William Carrier midway through the third period of the Golden Knights’ 1-0 series-opening victory on Wednesday night.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night at T-Mobile Arena

Carrier Tobias Rieder Jersey , who had a game-high 10 hits in the contest, including several hard ones on Doughty, left the ice woozy with what was called an upper-body injury after the hit while carrying the puck into the right corner of the Kings’ zone. He didn’t practice Thursday and was listed as day-to-day by Golden Knights head coach Gerard Gallant.

Replays showed that Doughty initially hit Carrier on the top of the left shoulder but the hit then continued and caught the Vegas forward in the head.

“Doughty delivers a high, forceful hit that makes Carrier’s head the main point of contact on a hit where such head contact was avoidable,” the NHL said in its narrative on the video review of the play. “The illegal check to the head rule does not take into account what the first point of contact is.”

Doughty set career highs for assists (50) and points (60) this season and ran his consecutive games played streak to 328 in Wednesday’s series opener, just two shy of the team record held by Anze Kopitar. The timing couldn’t be worse for a Los Angeles squad that is already without injured defensemen Jake Muzzin and Derek Forbort.

Doughty had a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety after practice on Thursday afternoon. Kings head coach John Stevens refused to discuss the situation with the media afterward other than to say “if it is (an issue), it’s next man up, obviously.”

The opener featured 127 hits, including 68 by the Kings, but both coaches pooh-poohed it as being an overly physical game.

“When I see 68 to 59 hits, I don’t buy it Jakob Silfverberg Jersey ,” Gallant said. “If they’re counting every bump, fine. Jonathan Marchessault, he got eight hits. I mean, he finished some checks. But I don’t buy it.”

“I think the teams played hard (but) I’m not sure where that number comes from,” Stevens said. “I don’t think anybody would be playing tomorrow if those numbers were accurate. I don’t want to sound disrespectful when I say this, but sometimes I don’t even know where they’re situated when they are marking those stats. There’s such a variety in the way those are gauged building to building that we usually go and look at our own stats.”

The Golden Knights believe it is crucial that they keep home-ice advantage with another win Friday night.

“It’s big,” said defenseman Shea Theodore, who scored the only goal of the game on Wednesday. “Obviously when you get that first win you want to keep that momentum rolling. We’ve been playing pretty strong at home all year. We’re just going to try and keep the same game plan.”
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