Spanos Won’t Hire Beathard This Year

The long shadow cast over the Charger organization by the availability of Bobby Beathard, the former Washington Redskin general manager, exists no longer.

At least for a year.

That was the word Thursday from Charger owner Alex Spanos at the team’s summer training camp headquarters at UC San Diego.

Ever since Beathard left the Redskins last winter, Spanos has talked of meeting with him to discuss the possibility of hiring him in an unspecified capacity with the Chargers.

There was even strong speculation inside the organization that Spanos would hire Beathard and relegate Steve Ortmayer, the team’s director of football operations, to a lesser role.

But when Spanos finally spoke with Beathard recently, Beathard told him he had accepted a one-year deal with NBC to do once-a-week television commentaries on the NFL.

“He just told me that’s what he wants to do right now,” Spanos said. “It’s a disappointment.”

Spanos reiterated that the team’s position hasn’t changed on contract negotiations with quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver, their unsigned second-round draft choice.

The Chargers maintain that Tolliver’s agent, Vic Vines, is asking for too much up front in the way of bonuses. Vines said Wednesday that the Chargers yanked their offer off the bargaining table just when he was beginning to think the two sides had a deal.

Spanos said the Chargers will stand firm on their offer. But he refused to underplay the critical nature of the negotiations. “That’s the most important one,” he said.

The only other unsigned rookie is first-round pick Burt Grossman, a defensive end from Pittsburgh, who was blissfully unaware of Spanos’ remarks Thursday.

Grossman said one of the reasons he remains unsigned is because he took so long to get an agent. Actually, Grossman switched agents from Richard Woods to Robert Jackson about a month ago.

Speaking by phone from his home in Pittsburgh, Grossman admitted he was getting “antsy” to get into camp. But, he said, “I’m not getting so antsy that I’ll go into camp for second-round money.”

Ron Lynn, the Charger defensive coordinator, is antsy to get Grossman into pads to observe him in live scrimmage situations. But he understands that Grossman has to do what he has to do.