CBSSPORTS.com's Dennis Dodd profiled CAA's JIMMY SEXTON as the "super agent behind the careers" of college football coaches HUGH FREEZE, NICK SABAN, JIMBO FISHER, WILL MUSCHAMP, LANE KIFFIN and JIM MORA JR. plus broadcaster TIM TEBOW. Sexton not only "controls the college football coaching market, in some spaces he is the market." It "hasn't mattered much that Sexton left his own practice a few years ago to work for powerful" CAA. Jimmy "is Jimmy, more homespun than highbrow." Dodd: "Can Sexton's influence truly shift the balance of power in college football?" It not only "seems that way," but "very much feels like when the first college coach makes $10 million per year, it's going to be a Jimmy client." Sexton: "I always bristle at people calling me puppeteer. I just try to take each client and do the best for them, what's in their best interests at that time" (CBSSPORTS.com, 1/15).
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: The Pro Football Writers of America on Thursday named Cowboys Owner JERRY JONES NFL Exec of the Year -- the first time he "has been so honored by the PFWA" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 1/16). After more than two decades in his roles as the owner/president/GM, the '14 season "demonstrated he is not totally clueless but instead has completely embraced patience." This award is the "culmination of Jerry staying with a plan that began several years ago, and never doing anything but slightly tweaking the path" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 1/16).
AWARDS & HONORS: Bradley Univ. is naming its sports communication program in honor of Dodgers radio announcer and '71 school graduate CHARLEY STEINER, making the program the first of its kind in the nation to be named after a person (Dodgers)....Football player MICHAEL SAM "will headline the Bullying Ends Here fundraiser" in Calgary Feb. 21. Flames President of Hockey Operation BRIAN BURKE will also be in attendance (CALGARY HERALD, 1/15).
NAMES: Rockets G JAMES HARDEN purchased a 7,1000-square-foot home in Houston previously owned by former NBAer CUTTINO MOBLEY for approximately $2M (LATIMES.com, 1/15)….Outgoing MLB Commissioner BUD SELIG has added writing his memoirs to “his to-do list, though that poses challenges.” Selig said he has “literally thousands of boxes of documents” to sort through. Selig: “How the hell am I going to start getting through those? I haven’t figured that out yet.” Selig added that author DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN is going to “help him get organized and will ‘play a role’ in the writing process” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 1/16)….PRESIDENT CLINTON was “spreading the word of the Humana Challenge" Wednesday night on NBC’s “LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS.” Clinton talked extensively about the tournament, as well as the Health Matters conference that is held in conjunction with next week’s PGA Tour event. He said that he will “not be playing golf in the event this year, using his time instead to meet and great people and players during the week” (DESERTSUN.com, 1/15)….In Minneapolis, Jim Souhan profiled T’Wolves VP/Client Development JEFF MUNNEKE, who is "the last original employee still working for the club after 26 years.” Souhan: “If there were a Hall of Fame for behind-the-scenes Minnesota sports employees, Munneke would be the first inductee. In a business known for change and conflict, he is a beloved survivor” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 1/16).
