Beathard Confirms He’ll Join Chargers : NFL: Former Redskins’ executive says he is ready to sign contract to become team’s next general manager.

Quelling weeks of speculation, former Washington Redskins executive Bobby Beathard said Sunday he has agreed to become the Chargers’ general manager.

Beathard announced his intentions to a national television audience tuned in to NBC’s NFL pregame show Sunday afternoon. Beathard, in his first year as a commentator for the program, said he will honor his network contract, which runs out Jan. 15.

Beathard said he talked with Chargers’ owner Alex Spanos by phone last week, but he hoped they could meet in California by Wednesday to seal the deal. Because of playoff commitments with NBC, Beathard must be in Cleveland on Friday.

“I still need to sign a contract, and I just want to sit down and talk about a couple of things with Mr. Spanos,” Beathard told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.

“As a guy who has signed players over the years, I never like to say anything is final until you get the signatures. But this is what I’m thinking will happen, and I’d be surprised if there are any catches.”

Spanos was unavailable for comment.

According to Rick Smith, Chargers public relations director, the club won’t be issuing an official statement until a contract is signed. Smith did say the Chargers’ position is that Spanos and Beathard have agreed on terms that will be finalized during the middle of this week. Reportedly, Beathard turned down similar offers from the New York Jets and Detroit Lions.

Beathard, 52, would replace Steve Ortmayer, who was fired Dec. 18, when the club was 5-10. In Ortmayer’s three seasons, the Chargers were 19-27.

Charger defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said Beathard’s hiring will speed the turning of the team’s administrative wheels.

“The organization can go forward now,” he said. “He has a proven track record. He brings a lot of opportunities here, in the capacity of building blocks. He has been with teams that have been in contention.”

Until he joined NBC this season as a regular on “The Insiders,” Beathard had been the Redskins general manager since 1978. Washington went to three Super Bowls during Beathard’s tenure and won twice, in 1983 and 1988. As director of player personnel for Miami for six years (1972-78), the Dolphins won the 1973 and 1974 Super Bowls.

Lynn said a year out of the front office makes Beathard a more valuable commodity.

“He has spent a lot of time in the NFC,” Lynn said. “He has a lot of feel for people available. He had a year off, and I’m sure he spent that year studying the players in the league, seeing what’s transpiring, and would be able to make some good judgments about the people out there.”

Charger Coach Dan Henning was out of town Sunday, but said last week Beathard, an acquaintence of 25 years, should be hired.

“I would be disappointed if it’s not Beathard,” Henning said. “I consider that 1,000 times better than hiring someone I don’t know.”

Henning and Lynn said it was a given that Beathard was Spanos’ primary choice.

“It was a match that both Bobby and Mr. Spanos wanted,” Lynn said. “Bobby had close ties to Southern California and Mr. Spanos had indicated his regards for him for some time.”

Beathard’s ties are as close as his parents’ Oceanside residence and his own Leucadia home.

Apparently, Spanos’ interest in Beathard stretches as far back as 1986, when Beathard’s last contract with the Redskins expired. Spanos reportedly made Beathard a standing offer to join the Chargers.

Last May, after Beathard left the Redskins and indicated his wish to relocate on the West Coast, Spanos again initiated contact with him. But Beathard put a wrench in Spanos’ plans by opting for broadcasting.

“When I made the decision to leave Washington,” he said, “the closer I got to leaving, the more I was convinced that I just wanted to sit out awhile, just be out of it. I don’t know how to explain that feeling. It’s just the way I felt.”

Although he said he liked his new job, Beathard said he missed football.

“I found out during the season that I did miss football,” he said, “although I’ve had a lot of fun here.”

Beathard started out as a part-time scout with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963 and stayed with them until moving to the AFL front office in 1966 when he worked with then-Commissioner Al Davis.

He left the AFL office two years later and was rehired by the Chiefs as a full-time scout. Beathard stayed in that post until 1969 when he joined Atlanta as a personnel scout.