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January 1, 2008

R.I. native A.J. Smith signs 5-year, $11 million contract extension with Chargers

BY JIM DONALDSON
Journal Sports Writer

It's certainly a Happy New Year for R.I. native A.J. Smith, the general manager of the San Diego Chargers.

Smith, a Cranston native who played high school football at Bishop Hendricken, and began his NFL career as an unpaid film-grader for the New England Patriots, has been given a 5-year, $11 million contract extension by Chargers president Dean Spanos.

That means Smith, who'll be 59 next month, now is signed through the 2014 season.

The timing is significant, with the Chargers facing a playoff game this weekend against the Titans in San Diego.

It was almost a year ago that Smith, in the wake of San Diego's disappointing, home-field, AFC semifinal playoff loss to New England, fired coach Marty Schottenheimer, even though the Chargers had gone 14-2 in the regular season.

It was the sixth straight postseason defeat for a Schottenheimer-coached team. He also lost with San Diego in 2004, and had dropped four in a row when he was coaching in Kansas City in 1993, .94, '95, and '97.

Convinced that Schottenheimer was not the man to take the Chargers to a championship, Smith replaced him with Norv Turner.

That was a controversial hiring, because Turner had a record of only 58-82 in seven years as coach of the Redskins (1994-2000) and two with Oakland (2004-05.) He had just one playoff team -- the '99 Redskins, who won an opening-round game before losing in the NFC semifinals.

After losing three of the first four games this season, Turner's Chargers have come on strong and won the AFC West with a record of 11-5 and are favored over Tennessee this weekend.

Clearly, Spanos has confidence in Smith.

And why shouldn't he, considering that, in the four years Smith has been at the helm, the Chargers have won three division titles?

Posted by Art Martone  at 11:20 AM | Permalink