NFL commissioner Roger Goodell dismisses appeals by New Orleans Saints, suspensions stand - NFL News
National Football League (NFL) commissioner, Roger Goodell, upheld his promise to quickly reach a decision over appeals filed by New Orleans Saints coaches and management team over their suspensions due to the controversial bounty scandal.
The Saints head coach, Sean Payton, general manager, Mickey Loomis and assistant coach, Joe Vitt had all received long-term suspensions by the league for their failure to stop the bounty program.
All three had filed appeals at the NFL headquarters in New York last Thursday and on Monday Goodell announced his decision to the public over the appeals.
According to a statement released by the NFL all suspensions and punishments previously announced will stand meaning that Payton will not coach the Saints for the entirety of the 2012-13 season while Loomis and Vitt will remain suspended for eight and six
games respectively.
The NFL in the statement also laid out its expectations that all individuals and the franchise is expected to cooperate in further proceedings.
"The club and the individuals will be expected to cooperate in any further proceedings and to assist in the development and implementation of programs to instruct players and coaches at all levels on principles of player safety, fair play, and sportsmanship,"
The league also added that commissioner Roger Goodell will also consider toning down and removing some of the penalties.
“If they embrace the opportunity and participate in a constructive way, Commissioner Goodell said he would consider mitigating the financial penalties on the individuals.”
With Goodell declining the appeals it remains to be seen who the Saints hire for the head coaching role for the interim one-year period.
The name of future Hall of Fame coach, Bill Parcells has been mentioned and the 70-year-old has also met both Loomis and Payton recently.
Parcells remains in the driving seat for the job although his hiring could create potential problems with the league since it would contravene the Rooney Rule.
More developments are expected over the course of the next few days as Payton has little time to mark out an interim coach before his suspension starts.
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