Florida Sentinel Bulletin

ATLANTA — The clutch quarterback. The genius coach. The big-play defense. The San Francisco 49ers are ready to start a new dynasty with a familiar formula. Next stop, the Big Easy.

Colin Kaepernick and Frank Gore (pictured) led San Francisco to a record comeback in the NFC championship game Sunday, overcoming an early 17-0 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons 28-24 and send the 49ers to their first Super Bowl since 1995. Gore scored a pair of touchdowns, including the winner with 8:23 remaining for San Francisco’s first lead of the day, and the 49ers defense made it stand up. A fourth-down stop at the 10-yard line denied Atlanta another stirring comeback after blowing a big lead.

“Everybody does a little,’‘ 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said, ‘’and it adds up to be a lot.’‘

Ten weeks after being discarded by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Aqib Talib is flourishing in New England, where he is being treated as the second coming of Deion Sanders.

Sanders, a Hall of Fame cornerback, gained fame by backing up his bragging with a rare ability to contain the opposition’s premier wide receiver. Since the Bucs traded. New England coach Bill Belichick hasn’t stopped gushing about his new shut-down corner.

“I like him and the team likes him,’‘ Belichick said Wednesday as the Pats prepared for Sunday’s AFC title game against Baltimore. “He’s a good football player, a good teammate and he’s very well, respected because of his professionalism. He’s a good guy to be around.’‘

In the first playoff game of Talib’s five-year career, he registered a team-high 10 tackles on Sunday in a 41-28 victory against Houston while jawing incessantly with six-time Pro Bowl receiver Andre Johnson

 “If you’re a cornerback and you don’t want to go after their best receiver, you’re in the wrong business,’‘ Talib said after Johnson caught eight passes for 95 yards, but failed to reach the end zone. “It showed my coach has got a little confidence in me. I can’t complain about that.’‘

FAMU has informed baseball coach Willie Brown he will be fired, following allegations of sexual harassment by a walk-on infielder that he cut from the baseball team twice.

Brown was notified of the university’s decision in a letter dated Monday, Jan. 14, and signed by interim president Larry Robinson. The letter was made public on Wednesday by Brown’s attorney, Steven Andrews, who received it a day earlier. Andrews also released a letter he sent to FAMU on Wednesday requesting a hearing for Brown to state his case.

Andrews said he won’t attempt to have Brown reinstated as coach, but he wants his client’s name cleared. Andrews said he intends to take the case to court if needed. Brown remains on administrative leave with pay pending a final written decision from the university.

“An investigation has been concluded by the office of Equal Opportunity Program pursuant to a complaint that was filed against you alleging sexual harassment,” Robinson wrote to Brown.

Former Bears coach Lovie Smith is expected to sit out the 2013 NFL season and reconsider his options next offseason, Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times reports citing a league source.

Smith interviewed for three NFL head-coaching vacancies but the respective clubs picked other candidates and of the two openings remaining, Smith isn’t believed to be a candidate for either. But Smith will still collect a handsome paycheck.

The Bears owe him what is believed to be at least $5 million for the 2013 season, and they’ll have to pay him the entire salary. Only in America, a coach has a 10-6 record in 2012, went to the NFC championship game twice, and Super Bowl once, in 9 seasons, and can’t get a job.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Serena Williams cautiously walked onto the court, and tried to keep the points short to avoid irritating her injured right ankle as she advanced to the third round at the Australian Open.

Nineteen minutes later, she finished off a 6-2, 6-0 win Thursday over No. 112-ranked Garbine Muguruza with an ace at 128.7 mph — the fastest she can remember serving. “I’m on the up and up, I feel. It can only get better from here,” she said, adding that she wasn’t bothered by the ankle during the match.

LeBron James has been a star from roughly the minute he entered the NBA in 2003, and over that time he’s accomplished a heck of a lot.

On Wednesday night in Oakland, James hit two of those marks against the Golden State Warriors in the midst of a blowout 92-75 win. Five minutes into the game, he found a cutting Dwyane Wade for an easy dunk to notch his 5,000th assist. Later, with just over 2:45 left in the first half, LeBron dribbled to his right and knocked down a pull-up jumper to become the youngest player to 20,000 points in NBA history. LeBron finished the game with 25 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in just 30 minutes of play.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher had a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he shot his girlfriend nine times and then killed himself in front of his coach and general manager, an autopsy released Monday showed.

The Jackson County Medical Examiner report on Belcher, 25, raised new questions about whether police should have done more before the Dec. 1 murder-suicide. Officers found Belcher sleeping in his idling car about five hours earlier, but let him go inside a nearby apartment to sleep it off.

BY TED TAYLOR

During an emotional news conference on Friday evening at the Lawson Center on the campus of Florida A&M University, Earl Holmes was introduced as the next head coach for the Rattlers football team.

With mother, wife, son and other family members in attendance along with his high school coach, friends, fellow Rattlers and other supporters, the burly NFL veteran could not restrain the tears. Coach Holmes had just seen a dream fulfilled.

Holmes is a Rattler through-and-through as he graduated from FAMU High School in 1991. He continued the FAMU experience with a superb career at the University.

Despite the relative head coaching inexperience, Holmes is an intelligent young coach and motivator, which many believe is needed to revive the university’s football program. Holmes is no stranger to success at Florida A&M as he was a standout player for the Rattlers, becoming a first team All-American, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) defensive player of the year, and Division 1-AA defensive player of the year for 1996.

Holmes still is Florida A&M University’s all-time leading tackler and possesses ten years of National Football League experience after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1997.
Holmes is coming off his fifth season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for Florida A&M, helping the Rattlers evolve from being last in total defense to becoming one of the top defensive teams in the MEAC for the past few years.

In 2011, Holmes implemented a defense that led the nation in interceptions and finished in the top ten in the nation in total number of turnovers.

Holmes took over the Rattlers as acting head football coach for the final two games of the 2012 season after coach Joe Taylor announced his retirement, compiling a 1-1 record against the top two teams in the MEAC.

In the short period of time coaching at FAMU, he rose from a position coach to co-defensive coordinator and finally defensive coordinator.

Holmes is viewed as an “iconic” figure at FAMU and in Tallahassee “because everybody knows him,” says Rattler Booster executive director Mickey Clayton. Clayton believes the FAMU community will rally behind Holmes and support for the football program will be renewed.

Clayton further said it is a great day for FAMU High School now that the coaches for football and basketball, Clemon Johnson, are Baby Rattlers.

Former FAMU president, Dr. Walter Smith, of Tampa, knew Holmes as a student at the high school. He feels Holmes is a good choice for FAMU as he has a passion for the University.

On inexperience, Dr. Smith says his commitment to FAMU will help overcome it.  Smith says, “All coaches have to learn some things and Holmes is a smart young man with the ability to handle the stress and strain of a head coach.”

Holmes was selected from a nationwide search conducted by the University. He emerged from a pool of 23 other candidates, some with former and current head coaching experience.

SAN FRANCISCO  — Colin Kaepernick has set an NFL record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a playoff game.

Kaepernick broke Michael Vick’s mark of 119 yards with a 56-yard keeper on an option play in the third quarter of Saturday night’s playoff game against Green Bay. The run gave Kaepernick 163 yards on 12 carries, setting a 49ers franchise record for the postseason. Vick set his record for Atlanta in a 47-17 win over St. Louis on Jan. 15, 2005.

Kaepernick earlier scored on a 20-yard run and also threw two touchdown passes in the first half. He joined Chicago’s Jay Cutler and Cleveland’s Otto Graham as the only players to throw two TD passes and run for two TDs in a playoff game. Graham did it twice.