e following year and four in 2014.Baylor official

Mike Mularkey has made eliminating penalties a focus for the Tennessee Titans since the offseason program started. The coach already is seeing an early payoff.Against the Oakland Raiders, Titans linebacker David Bass picked up a fumble and ran 47 yards for a touchdown in a 27-14 win. Best of all for Mularkey? Not a single player or coach crossed the sideline while celebrating the big play.For Mularkey, its all part of building confidence and an identity for a franchise that has won just five games over the past two seasons.Its such a simple thing as even the sideline, where since the very first day of OTAs, we painted a line and we asked the players to stay behind the line and the coaches to stay behind the line because its an emphasis this year, Mularkey said. Its how well disciplined theyve been on the sideline.The NFL has made keeping coaches off the field a point of emphasis; any assistant coach or player coming onto the field will be penalized. Cam Newton was flagged for illegal substitution when he came on the field during a 95-yard return of an interception Aug. 11, wiping out a Carolina TD.Oakland was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct at the start of the fourth quarter when coaches came onto the field.The Titans discipline definitely was tested when linebacker Sean Spence hit Raiders running back DeAndre Washington, popping the ball out.That one was a little bit of a challenge. I mean they were excited, and I was too, Mularkey said. But if you go back to the first preseason game when ... Cam was on the field and it got nullified because of that penalty. We could easily have been penalized for that, as well, for all the players on the field.DROP THE FOURTH PRESEASON GAME: Former NFL executive Pat Kirwan believes the fourth preseason game is a waste.On his SiriusXM Radio program, Kirwan recently outlined a better way to use the final weeks of the preseason than to play a game in which few, if any, starters see the field.Just eliminate that game, Kirwan said. That meant last week when that (third game) ended, you would now be in a two-week cycle -- more than two weeks for some teams -- to get ready for your opener, which I think would open up the door for more trades.This whole nonsense of this Thursday game, remember, (Wednesday) they will be traveling, so there is a day you are not bringing anybody in. Then you are wasting your time with a game, you come back Friday and youre trying to make your final cuts. If you had made your final cuts last week and could really have spent the two weeks negotiating a trade with a guy or two, I think you could have helped your roster a lot more.Kirwan also believes teams would be better served that way as they prepare for the regular season.If I was running a team, I would love a two-week window to my opener right now, he said, and be able to put myself in a really good position to start prepping the game plan for the opener; start making sure I had my roster right; and giving myself the time to make a trade or two. And work out some of the guys who were cut last week.I think a lot of guys would feel they could settle their club a little quicker.ONE-TIME PERK? Minnesotas brand-new $1.1 billion stadium has plenty of fancy features, with one of the most unique (and pricey) being a bar and lounge area coaches and players walk through to reach the field from the locker room. With purple-clad ticket-holders stretching their hands out for high-fives. The Delta Sky360 Club also has windows into the interview room, where coach Mike Zimmer will hold post-game press conferences.Following a smooth preseason opener, a 23-10 victory over San Diego that officially inaugurated U.S. Bank Stadium, Zimmer uncharacteristically hammed it up for the fans who celebrated his arrival at the podium. He waved with a big smile and jokingly asked for a drink while pantomiming the lifting of a bottle to his lips.After a few more rounds of cheers and claps, though, a still-grinning Zimmer became distracted from the question-and-answer duties.This is going to be rough. Were not going to be able to do this all year, Zimmer said.The interview room has a convenient switch that can tilt the window glass to a frosted look that prevents the crowd from watching.---FINE HIM 50 CENTS: In the draft room, Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson is a stickler about cellphones. He doesnt want to hear them.So when his phone went off during the middle of a news conference this week, Thompson was a little embarrassed.Thats my phone, Thompson said. If we were in the draft room that would cost me 50 cents. Uh, the question. Can you repeat that?Thompson handed the phone to a team official. It went off again a minute later as he was answering a question.Thats not me, Thompson deadpanned. I guess it is me.Its understandable the phone would go off now because of roster cuts.Theres a lot of fishing that goes on at this time of the year, Thompson said. So yeah, theres people touching base and everybody does it. They talk and talk and sometimes something happens; most of the time probably not.---AP Pro Football Writers Barry Wilner, Teresa M. Walker and Dave Campbell, and Sports Writer Genaro C. Armas contributed to this notebook.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFLBlack Friday Shoes Free Shipping . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. Cheap Black Friday Shoes . LOUIS -- The New Orleans Saints looked like a team playing out the string. https://www.shoesblackfriday.com/ . After taking two big hits this week -- losing at home and dropping back-to-back games for the first time all season -- Indiana struck back by playing its most complete game of the year. Black Friday Shoes Store . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services. Black Friday Shoes Deals . Brett Kulak and Jackson Houck of the Vancouver Giants were each charged with assault causing bodily harm on Aug. 18, according to the B.C. court services.DALLAS -- The former Title IX coordinator at Baylor University said Wednesday that top campus leaders undermined her efforts to investigate sexual assault claims and were more concerned with protecting the Baylor brand than the students.Patty Crawford told CBS This Morning that the university set her up to fail from the beginning. Crawford, who resigned Monday from her role enforcing the federal standards meant to prevent discrimination based on gender, said she received resistance from senior leadership but did not identify those leaders.Later Wednesday, Baylor officials announced that they had promoted Crawfords senior deputy, Kristan Tucker, as the universitys new Title IX coordinator.In her televised interview, Crawford said Baylor officials marginalized her by leaving her out of meetings, undermining her authority and making decisions that should be left to a Title IX coordinator. The treatment led her to file complaints with the university and U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights. Charges that she was the victim of retaliation are included in those complaints.I never had the authority, the resources or the independence to do the job appropriately, she said.Baylor has received a storm of criticism over claims it mishandled sexual assault cases for several years. An outside review determined school administrators contributed to a hostile environment against assault victims. The scandal drew broad attention in large part because former football players were convicted of sexually assaulting women, and an independent review by the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton determined the football program operated as it if were above the rules. Coach Art Briles was fired earlier this year, as was the athletic director. President Ken Starr was removed from his post by regents and he later resigned as chancellor.Baylor said in a statement that Crawford went public with her grievances only after the school rejected a demand for $1 million and retention of book and film rights.Baylor University was surprised by the action taken by Patty Crawford given her public comments in August about the strong support she felt from across the University, the statement said.In August, Crawford talked with the Waco Tribune-Herald about her job and the changes Baylor was implementing. In that interview, she said, I would not have stayed at Baylor through this, something from before I was here, if I didnt know and be encouraged and understand that I still have authority and opportunities to build the best.Crawfords attorney, Rogge Dunn, who appeared with her on the network, said her federal complaint led to a mediation session with the university Monday and that Baylor has broken Texas law by revealing some aspects of the session. State law requires that mediation details remain confidential, with some limited exceptions.In a desperate attempt to smear Patty, what theyve done is violated Texas law, Dunn said.In later comments to The Associated Press, Dunn cited the law in declining tto discuss the hearing, but said Crawford is not seeking financial compensation from Baylor and has no plans to seek a film or book deal.dddddddddddd.Lawyers for eight women who are suing Baylor for allegedly failing to act on their claims of being assaulted seized on Crawfords resignation and her failed mediation talks as a key reason to allow them to pursue documents and interviews for their case. Baylor previously asked a federal judge to halt evidence gathering while deciding if the lawsuit can proceed.There is no telling how many persons with information have been shackled by a confidentiality agreement accompanied with a large payment, lawyers for the women wrote in a court filing Wednesday.Dunn told AP that the number of sex assault complaints that were lodged since Crawford began as the Title IX coordinator in late 2014 increased by the hundreds. Awareness campaigns helped, he said, but students also came to learn that Crawfords office would listen to their allegations and follow up. Before Baylor hired a Title IX coordinator, charges of assault were lodged with different administrators and offices, and too often not taken seriously, Dunn said.Crawfords assertion that her office received hundreds of assault complaints during her time with Baylor, which began in November 2014, contrasts with the far lower number of crimes the university reported to the U.S. Department of Education.Schools must report sex assault complaints in which the university has determined that an offense occurred. Baylor did not report a single such instance of sexual assault from 2008 to 2011. Two cases were reported in 2012, six the following year and four in 2014.Baylor officials have previously declined to discuss the numbers, and a spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.While much of the attention about assaults on campus has focused on football players, Crawford says the problem is broader, according to Dunn.She thinks the Baylor administration thought if they could make athletics the scapegoat then they could say, `OK, problem solved.He added, The problem was not solved by cleaning house with athletics.In a statement, the new Title IX coordinator said the offices priority under her management will be to educate and serve Baylor students, faculty, staff and supporters.The Title IX Offices focus is on our students and the entire Baylor community, ensuring that we provide the resources, support and assistance they need. It is vital that our systems support a fair and equitable Title IX process, Tucker said.Before joining Baylor, Tucker was the lead Title IX investigator at East Carolina University and a compliance officer with the University of Tennessee system.---Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Terry Wallace in Dallas contributed to this report.---Follow David Warren on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WarrenJourno ' ' '