Black Candidates on Chargers’ List

The next black head coach in the National Football League will be the first since the mid-’20s, when Fritz Pollard coached the Hammond (Ind.) Pros for 3 seasons. But the Chargers have targeted “a couple” of black NFL assistants in their widening search for a replacement for fired Al Saunders.

In a separate development Thursday, Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, confirmed that a second team has called and asked permission to talk to Ron Lynn, the team’s defensive coordinator.

Ortmayer said he has promised anonymity to the latest Lynn suitor. The first to inquire about Lynn’s availability was Indianapolis last week. The second may be the Raiders, who favor Lynn’s attacking style defense and are looking for a defensive coordinator after dumping Charlie Sumner Wednesday.

Ortmayer also said hasn’t contacted any prospective candidates for the Chargers’ head job, adding he doesn’t plan to do so until after the first of the year.

But, he said, “we are sensitive to the issue” of the absence of blacks in NFL head coaching positions. And, he added, “we certainly will take a look at anybody we feel is qualified. My position is we’ll hire the best possible coach.”

Ortmayer said he is formulating three lists from which he will narrow the choices for his new coach. The first contains candidates with head coaching experience. The second comprises NFL assistants, the third college coaches.

Ortmayer said there is more than one black on the assistants list but did not identify the assistants by name. The most commonly mentioned black assistants with possible futures as NFL head coaches are Chicago Bears running backs coach Johnny Roland, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Tony Dungy and San Francisco 49ers receivers coach Dennis Green.

Roland, 45 and a former Pro Bowl running back for the Cardinals, joined the Bear staff in 1983. The Bears rushed for more yards than any other NFL team in 1984, 1985 and 1986. They slipped to 13th in 1987 but bounced back to third in rushing offense in 1988.

“I’d always be interested in being a head coach,” Roland said Thursday by phone from Suwanee, Ga., where the Bears were finishing preparations for Saturday’s NFC playoff game against the Eagles.

But Roland said he hadn’t heard from the Chargers and had no immediate plans to call them. “If they have a genuine interest in me, they know where to find me,” he said. “I’m happy in Chicago. But I don’t want to be a lifetime assistant.”

Dungy, according to published reports Thursday in the Rocky Mountain News, has already talked to Denver Coach Dan Reeves about replacing Joe Collier, recently fired as the Broncos’ defensive coordinator. Dungy, 33, has been highly regarded around the NFL for a number of years, although the Steeler defense finished last in points and yards allowed this year.

Green is also a leading candidate for the vacant head coaching job at Stanford. He is 39 and has served as a head coach at Northwestern (1981-85).

Roland agreed philosophically with Ortmayer’s commitment to hire the “best” possible candidate for the job, saying, “I don’t think it should be necessarily a black and white issue. I know that will be alluded to. But they ought to hire the best man for the job--black, white or Hispanic.”

Yet at least one leading black sports activist is unhappy with the failure of the NFL owners to act affirmatively and hire a black head coach. “I’m kind of devastated that with all the sensitivity to this issue that a more concentrated effort has not been devoted to finding a black head coach,” said Anthony Brown.

Brown is a Wisconsin-based consultant who works with the NFL, National Basketball Assn. and major league baseball on affirmative action. He also serves as a consultant on sports-related issues to Benjamin Hooks, the executive director of the NAACP.

Coincidentally, Brown attended the University of the Pacific with Dean Spanos, the Chargers’ vice-chairman and son of team owner Alex Spanos. The elder Spanos will have the final say on whom the Chargers select to replace Saunders.

Brown named Alex Spanos Thursday in a group of men (which also included New York real estate tycoon Donald Trump and Atlanta media magnate Ted Turner) who are, “mavericks . . . ones capable of withstanding whatever heat comes from the public after making a bold move such as hiring a black head coach.”

For his part, the elder Spanos has responded to the heat surrounding Saunders’ firing and the search to replace him by avoiding all public comment on the matters. He has allowed Ortmayer to serve as his heat shield. The silence from Spanos has been deafening.

Spanos did, however, get involved earlier this week in the hunt for a new coach. When Cleveland Browns Coach Marty Schottenheimer resigned Tuesday in a dispute over assistants with owner Art Modell, Spanos phoned Modell and asked for the lowdown.

Ortmayer said the phone call stemmed more from Spanos’ longtime friendship with fellow owner Modell than from any active role Spanos will necessarily play in the search for a new head coach.

Charger Notes

One name heard less and less in discussions about whom the Chargers will hire as their next head coach is offensive coordinator Jerry Rhome. But Rhome, who has one more season on his contract with the team, is sitting tight. “I’ve made it a practice not to promote myself around,” Rhome said. “I’ve made it clear to the Chargers I want to be coming back (in 1989). I like it here. We accomplished a lot by the end of the year. I don’t want to see it all go down the drain.” Rhome said he doesn’t plan to formally apply for the head coaching position when Ortmayer meets with the assistants Jan. 3. But he said “if they asked me (to be head coach), I would certainly feel privileged. That (being asked) would be the way to go. Rarely does anybody have a chance for these types of things by volunteering.” Rhome served as quarterbacks coach for the Super Bowl champion Redskins in 1987. But sources in Washington say there probably wouldn’t be room for him on the Redskins’ staff unless current Washington offensive assistant Dan Henning takes a job elsewhere. Henning’s name has surfaced in connection with several openings around the league.

Steve Ortmayer, the Chargers’ director of football operations, said that as of Thursday, defensive coordinator Ron Lynn is the only Charger assistant any other NFL team has asked permission to talk to. . . . As if Ortmayer didn’t have enough to worry about, his off-season will also be filled with contract negotiations on 17 players who, according to the Chargers, will become free agents Feb. 1. They are: kicker Vince Abbott, running back Curtis Adams, running back Gary Anderson, linebacker Keith Browner, defensive back Leonard Coleman, offensive lineman Ken Dalliafor, wide receiver Jamie Holland, running back Lionel James, tight end Anthony Jones, running back Tim Spencer, defensive lineman Tyrone Keys, quarterback Babe Laufenberg, quarterback Mark Malone, defensive lineman Les Miller, defensive lineman Joe Phillips, linebacker Gary Plummer and running back Kevin Scott. Abbott, Anderson, Browner, Dalliafor, Holland, Jones, Keys, Laufenberg, Malone, Phillips and Plummer all started at one time or another in 1988. Plummer led the Chargers in tackles, Holland in receptions. But the big ticket item for the Chargers will be Anderson, who finished third in AFC rushing. “We don’t anticipate any problem,” was Ortmayer’s standard response Thursday. But Ortmayer said Anderson hasn’t even informed him who his agent will be in the negotiations. Plus, Ortmayer said, teams are unsure about new negotiations because of the NFLPA’s alleged refusal to meet with the NFL Management Council at the bargaining table to forge a new contract. Anderson was the third-highest paid Charger in 1988 at $400,000.