[CBFF] Angelo confident Smith deal will get done

[mom2iancal]

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Angelo confident Smith deal will get done 

By Larry Mayer 

INDIANAPOLIS – General manager Jerry Angelo remains convinced that the Bears 
will sign coach Lovie Smith to a long-term contract extension. “I am very 
confident we are going to get this done,” Angelo said Thursday at the NFL 
Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. 

Angelo discussed Smith’s contract situation after the coach’s agent, Frank 
Bauer, told ESPN Wednesday night that talks had reached a stalemate and he 
expected Smith to return in 2007 for the final year of his contract without a 
new deal. 

“We’re not close, we’re not encouraged and based on where talks have gone 
recently, Lovie will be a free agent after the next season,” Bauer said. “It 
would take an unforeseen breakthrough for this to get done, and we are being 
more than reasonable in this market.” 

Bears president and CEO Ted Phillips spoke with Bauer about a contract 
extension before the end of the regular season and then resumed negotiations after 
the Super Bowl. 

“Lovie has made it real clear that he wants to be our coach, and we’ve made 
it real clear to Lovie that we want him as our coach,” Angelo said. “That’s 
what we’re working toward. 

“Ted has spent an inordinate amount of time on this deal. I know he’s 
talked to his agent. I don’t know how many times he’s talked to him, but 
certainly a handful of times and they’re negotiations. I can’t talk for his agent; I’
m not going to do that. 

“Certainly (the comments that Bauer made) didn’t bode well on the 
situation, but these are negotiations and that’s part of the process. But from our 
point of view—and I feel strongly I am speaking for Lovie—we want him here and 
he wants to be here. That’s the bottom line.” 

Smith said as much during a conference call Monday, telling reporters: “I 
have made it known I would like to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears 
forever, and I know we’ll get that done.” 

The Bears weren’t interested in publicly responding to Bauer’s comments. 

“We’re going to continue to negotiate towards an extension, which has been 
our goal and Lovie’s goal,” Phillips said. “Our intention is to keep our 
negotiation private and we will continue to do so.” 

Asked how he expected Bauer’s statements to affect the tenor of the 
negotiations, Angelo said that business is business. 

“I’m not taking it personally,” said the Bears general manager. “That’s 
the one thing you learn in negotiations. It’s business. How they choose to 
operate, that’s up to them. I can’t make them think like we think. 

“I can’t speak for Lovie’s agent. He has an agent for a reason. His agent 
handles his business side. Ted handles our business side in these matters, so 
we’re not too unlike what they’re doing. Again, we both want the same goal. I
’m confident that we’re going to get it accomplished.” 

In 2006, Smith led the Bears to the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 
years and guided the team to back-to-back division titles for the first time 
since they won five straight in 1984-88. In 2005, he was named NFL Coach of the 
Year after the Bears improved from 5-11 to 11-5. 

Angelo hired Smith in 2004 and bristled Thursday when a reporter asked 
whether the general manager had “gone to bat” for the coach during contract 
negotiations. 

“I assume that was assumed by everybody, but if I have to clarify that then I
’ll go on record and say I certainly want him as our football coach until he 
doesn’t want to be a football coach anymore,” Angelo said. “I have always 
felt strongly about that and I have never wavered on that, and that really is 
the attitude of our club as well.” 

While Bauer indicated that a stalemate had been reached, Angelo insisted 
that negotiations have not broken off. 

“These are ongoing,” he said. “Are we going to talk tomorrow or are we 
going to talk Monday? I can’t say that right now. If he calls, we’re going to 
pick up the phone, so we’re going to leave it at that. Our intentions are what 
I want to emphasize here. It would be different if we weren’t sure. That’s 
not the case, so we have to work it out.” 

Angelo also said that the Bears have not issued any ultimatums. 

“I know this, we are still negotiating,” he said. “There is no line in the 
sand, take-it-or-leave-it, anything like that. That’s not being said from our 
point of view. We’ll just keep moving on.” 

In terms of his own contract, Angelo said that signing an extension is only 
a matter of time. 

“We’ll get what details that need to be clarified on my situation resolved,”
he said. “It’s just a matter of me being able to sit down and give my 
undivided attention to Ted. We’ve talked about a lot of things. I feel very 
confident we’ll get all of this ironed out as soon as he and I get a little time 
together. 

“We’ve had a lot happen since our last game and really haven’t had that 
time and our focus—and I’m talking about Ted’s focus—has been with Lovie as 
well as it should be.”

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