Arizona Cardinals Hire Tobin To Replace Ryan As Coach

The Arizona Cardinals hired Vince Tobin as coach on Wednesday, the second time he’s been hired as a replacement for Buddy Ryan.

Tobin, the Indianapolis defensive coordinator last season, is the Cardinals’ fifth coach since the team moved to Arizona from St. Louis in 1988. He replaced Ryan, who was fired Dec. 26 after two seasons and a 12-20 record. Tobin replaced Ryan in 1986 as defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears when Ryan became coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.

The City of Cleveland and the NFL were close to a deal Wednesday night that would bring the Browns to Baltimore this year.

Both sides met for more than 8 hours in Chicago, the site of this week’s owners meetings, and made significant progress. A league spokesman, however, cautioned that a vote by the owners on the move - scheduled for Friday - might be delayed.

“It’s a question mark,” said NFL spokesman Joe Browne. “There may not be a vote if there’s no agreement among the parties.”

Also on the agenda are approval of the extension of the league’s labor agreement through 2002 and discussion of the fifth announced or actual franchise shift in the last year - Ken Behring’s proposal to move the Seahawks from Seattle to California.

Meanwhile, Browns owner Art Modell says if he wins approval to move his club to Baltimore, he may try to lure retired Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula out of retirement to lead the team, the Washington Post reported in today’s edition.Modell said he would follow up his meeting with Shula, although he wasn’t sure if Shula was interested in coaching.

At Indianapolis, more than 300 NFL hopefuls will lift weights, run sprints, talk to psychologists and take tests this weekend at the league’s annual scouting combine.

From across the country, last year’s college elite will begin gathering today with dreams of boosting their prospects in the April 20-21 draft.

At Dallas, more than 125,000 screaming fans lined a downtown parade route to hail the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys, who glided by on silver and blue floats during a Texas-sized salute.

Stars like Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin took their place on floats - with Deion Sanders a noticeable no-show.

Green Bay Packers assistant Gil Haskell, who suffered a skull fracture in a sideline collision during the Packers-Dallas Cowboys playoff game Jan. 14, has resumed work part-time while continuing his recovery.