NFL Coaches Have Fallen Out of Flavor With Ex-Viking GM

Mike Lynn, former general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, said in an interview with Dan Barreiro of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis that there is a tendency in the NFL to hire low-profile coaches.

“That’s why I think it was excellent for Arizona to hire Buddy Ryan,” Lynn said. “You can love him or hate him, but you can’t say he doesn’t create excitement. That’s why I really think (Mike) Ditka should be back in this league. He was a personality and he was volatile.

“Right now, there are a lot of vanilla head coaches.”

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No Buddy: Ryan wonders what Dallas Cowboy Coach Barry Switzer does on the sideline.

“He doesn’t coach offense or defense. He watches the game, and I guess he tells them when to take a penalty and when not.”

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Trivia time: How many Pacific 10 schools have had unbeaten, untied football seasons since 1923?

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Wait a minute: Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant was virtually drooling in describing Notre Dame quarterback Ron Powlus before Saturday’s game against Boston College:

“We’re talking prodigy, folks. Barring injuries, we’re talking immortality.”

Considering that Powlus completed five of 21 passes with two interceptions in a 30-11 loss to the Eagles, the deification is on hold.

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Vicious: Bernie Lincicome writing in the Chicago Tribune: “At the end of his new contract, new Bull Ron Harper will only be a little more than five in dog years, which is the kind to expect from him.”

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Take your pick: Peter Leo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asks this question:

“Which do you think will end first? a) The baseball strike, b) The O.J. Simpson trial, c) The American occupation of Haiti, d) The 20th Century.”

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Outposts: Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News is urging NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to put a team in Denver:

“You’ve got some lame towns in that league of yours. I mean, Hartford, Winnipeg? Isn’t Winnipeg an Indian word for bleak, wind-blown cow town where you can’t get served after 10 p.m.?”

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Deprived: Chinese swimming Coach Chen Yungpeng said that turtle blood won’t be on the menu for the Asian Games in Hiroshima:

“According to the customs laws of Japan, no live animals are permitted to be brought into the country, so we didn’t bring any turtles with us.”

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Meter-mouth: Trash-talking NBA players step aside for a moment and listen to sprinter Dennis Mitchell in an interview in Track & Field News:

“It’s our nature as sprinters to be a little cocky, self-centered and to jaw-flap some. It’s all just part of the game.”

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Only wondering: Shaun Powell in Newsday: “Get this: The Los Angeles Lakers win 33 games but keep their Honolulu training camp site. The (Houston) Rockets win the title and head for Galveston, Tex.”

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Trivia answer: Four: USC, 1932, 1962 and 1972; Stanford, 1940; UCLA, 1954 and Washington, 1991.

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Quotebook: Triple-A Albuquerque Manager Rick Dempsey on managing: “Now I know why Earl Weaver smoked so much.”