Stars und Sternchen! » in the final year of his contract

SEATTLE -- The first major contract extension finalized by the Seattle Seahawks following their Super Bowl title was a commitment to coach Pete Carroll -- and to an ideology that finally proved successful at the professional level. While getting stars such as Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman locked up remains important, the focus for the Seahawks was making sure Carroll was sticking around. "This was a huge priority for us coming into the off-season," Seattle general manager John Schneider said Friday. "We knew it was around the corner and it was, quite honestly, were trying to take care of our own people and keep our young players together. But where do you start? You start at the top." The Seahawks locked up Carroll through the 2016 season with a three-year extension announced Friday. The new contract rips up the final year of the original five-year deal Carroll signed in January 2010, and cleared up any uncertainty whether the 62-year-old coach wanted to stick around after his original deal expired. Carroll is staying. So are the ideas and beliefs he brought with him when he arrived from Southern California. Back then, there was skepticism whether his style and attitude would work in the NFL. Now, theres no question. "Whether this came about or not I was going to keep busting it and going for it. It wasnt going to matter in that regard. But I think the statement, that they wanted to validate the commitment to what were doing and how were doing it, was extraordinary," Carroll said. "It was an extraordinary effort on their part and Im just humbled and thrilled they see it that way." Carroll is 38-26 in four regular seasons with Seattle and 5-2 in the playoffs. Hes the second-oldest head coach in the NFL -- yet rarely acts his age -- and one of seven current coaches with a Super Bowl title. The championship was a crowning achievement for Carroll after struggles in his two previous stints as an NFL head coach with the New York Jets and New England. Carroll was lured to Seattle because of something he didnt have in his previous NFL stops: control. Seattle gave him the reins to the franchise, and hired him before adding Schneider to the mix, and creating a relationship that has been marked by stability and success. After nearly a decade of winning with the Trojans and having say over a program, that level of control was crucial if he was going back to the professional ranks. The Seahawks were willing. "I loved my time at USC and I was having the time of my life being part of that wonderful school and all the things that we were doing," Carroll said. "But I knew there was another challenge out there and that was coming to the league." The challenge Carroll inherited included tearing down and rebuilding the Seahawks roster and treading water through a pair of 7-9 seasons his first two years. The breakthrough came in Year 3 when Seattle drafted Russell Wilson, who gave them stability at quarterback. Seattle went 11-5 in Carrolls third season and reached the divisional round of the playoffs. Carroll followed that by guiding the Seahawks to 13 regular-season wins, the 2013 NFC West title and home-field advantage in the playoffs. Seattle knocked off New Orleans in the divisional round then edged San Francisco in the NFC title game before routing Denver 43-8 in the Super Bowl in February. Part of the allure for Carroll now is Seattles potential. The Seahawks are still young and have the likes of Wilson, Sherman, Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Percy Harvin and Michael Bennett, among others, returning from the title team. "Fortunately weve had a pretty good little run and were in the middle of something pretty special," Carroll said. "Theres no reason that either one of us think, OK, we did this one time and that was it and that was our shot. We think were right in the middle of a great opportunity here." Dan Feeney Jersey . Calgary finished atop the CFL standings with a 14-4 record and earned the right to host the West Division final at McMahon Stadium on Nov. Joe Barksdale Jersey . The alleged sexual assault is believed to have happened over the weekend of Feb. 1, when the hockey team was in Thunder Bay for two games against Lakehead University. The criminal investigation branch of the Thunder Bay Police Service is leading the investigation with help from Ottawa police. http://www.chargersauthenticshop.com/Chargers-Corey-Liuget-Draft-Jersey/ . Ireland was the last unbeaten side in the championship after France fell to Wales on Friday, and was favoured to end a three-match losing run to England with a side with more than twice as many caps, rampant momentum, and added incentive to celebrate Brian ODriscolls world record-tying 139th test cap. Lance Alworth Jersey .com) - Ryan Johansens creative moves and hometown appeal highlighted Team Folignos successful night at the NHL All- Star Skills Competition. Mike Williams Jersey . -- The taxing preseason, which included two games in China, is finally over. SAN JOSE, Calif. -- San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson is wasting no time making changes after perhaps his teams most crushing playoff collapse. Wilson said Thursday that he told pending unrestricted free agent defenceman Dan Boyle that he will not be re-signed, informed unproductive forward Marty Havlat that he will not be back next season and moved top-line wing Brent Burns back to defence after spending more than a year as a forward on captain Joe Thorntons line. These changes all come two weeks after the Sharks became the fourth team in NHL history to lose a best-of-seven series after winning the first three games. Wilson spent the past two weeks meeting with coaches and players to help determine what went wrong in the final four games against Los Angeles and how to get a team that has been one of the best in the regular season the past decade over the playoff hump. "You want to be careful not to change too many things, but you better be really careful that youre not just avoiding what really needs to take place," Wilson said. "Theres two sides to that. I think what we need to do is much more drastic than just putting a Band-aide on it." Wilson said the moves this off-season will build on the moves made at the trade deadline in 2013, when the Sharks dealt away Ryane Clowe, Douglas Murray and Michal Handzus in an effort to become a faster and younger team. Those moves helped San Jose make it all the way to Game 7 of the second round before losing to Los Angeles a year ago and Wilson said the team is about two-thirds of the way to completing the overhaul. The team appeared closer than that after winning the first three games against the Kings but was unable to close the series out. Wilson blamed the collapse on allowing too-many odd-man rushes, a power play that went scoreless on its last 16 chances, a lack of effort in Game 5 and a late-game collapse in Game 6 after a disputed goal was allowed. "Our relationship with our fans has been strained and weve got to go and re-earn that trust," Wilson said. Boyle has been a key part of the Sharks since being acquired in a trade from Tampa Bay in July 2008. His 68 goals annd 201 assists in six seasons make him the career leader in both categories in franchise history and he has been a staple on the power-play unit.dddddddddddd He will be replaced on the blue line by Burns, who spent his first year and a half in San Jose on defence before making the move to forward in March 2013. Burns had a career-high 22 goals this season along with 26 assists as he teamed with Thornton on a physically imposing line that controlled play for much of the season. But Wilson said he is needed now on defence and compared Burns potential impact there to Montreals P.K. Subban, Winnipegs Dustin Byfuglien and Los Angeles Drew Doughty. "When you take a look at that type of dynamic on the back end, guys that move the puck up, shoot the puck on the power play, it creates a tough matchup," Wilson said. "When he was originally moved up to forward, it was because of an injury. He was coming back and he was having trouble with certain parts of his skating." Havlat scored 27 goals in three injury-plagued seasons with San Jose after being acquired from Minnesota in a trade for Dany Heatley. Havlat fell out of favour with the coaching staff and was a healthy scratch in six of seven playoff games. He is owed $6 million in the final year of his contract and will either be bought out or dealt. Wilson would not divulge what other changes he had planned but did say some of those could come in the teams player leadership. Boyle must be replaced as an alternate captain and Wilson said he expected some of the younger core, including forwards Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski and defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, to possibly take a bigger role. "I expect our young players to take this as probably one of the great extreme learning moments to say, You know what? Thats not happening again," Wilson said. NOTES: Assistant coach Larry Robinson will be back but could have an expanded role that includes some front-office duties. ... Wilson said talks have already begun to keep backup G Alex Stalock, who can be an unrestricted free agent. ... Pavelski (shoulder) and F Raffi Torres (knee) had operations after the season. Cheap Jerseys China NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys Wholesale Discount Basketball Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic Cheap Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping Cheapest College Jerseys Sale Cheap Football Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys From China MLB Jerseys Outlet Canada Wholesale NBA Jerseys Canada Store Cheap Soccer Jerseys China Cheap Authentic Jerseys Canada ' ' '