New NFL Commissioner Under Pressure to Clean Up Misconduct

Mar 27, 12:00 AM

Current Headlines: PHOENIX _ Roger Goodell inherited an image-conscious league overrun by off-the-field player misconduct. The bad behavior and the NFL's humiliation has only intensified in the nearly seven months since he became NFL commissioner. Now the pressure is on Goodell to clean it up.

He plans to have his new personal conduct policy in place by the April 28 draft and indicated Monday that one-year suspensions for repeat offenders, as well as fines and stripping draft picks from teams with multiple offenders, will be part of the policy.

He won't have to search hard for the first players to discipline: Tennessee's Pacman Jones and Chicago's Tank Johnson clearly are in position to get lengthy suspensions or, in Jones' case, lose his job altogether.

Jones may have bigger problems than Goodell and the Titans. Las Vegas police said Monday they will seek felony and misdemeanor charges against Jones in connection to a triple shooting at a Las Vegas strip club last month. Jones would face a felony charge of coercion and misdemeanor threat and battery charges. Two others also could face charges but Lt. George Castro told The Associated Press that detectives have not determined who fired the shots. Castro said Jones instigated a fight inside the bar, leading to the shooting outside the bar.

"Was he an inciter?" Castro said. "Yes, he was."

Tommy Urbanski, the club's manager, was one of three people shot. He's from Commack, N.Y., and had been working at the club only a few weeks. He is now paralyzed from the waist down and is in a rehabilitation center.

His wife Kathleen told the New York Daily News' Michael O'Keeffe after learning that police had asked for charges to be filed: "We are absolutely thrilled. We are very happy about it."

She said the family still wants the gunman found and brought to justice and is confident Las Vegas police will find the shooter. "This is not just about justice for my husband," Kathleen Urbanski said. "This guy is dangerous to everyone. He's capable of anything."

Castro said no link has been established between Jones and the shooter. Jones faces charges in Georgia stemming from a 2006 case of felony obstruction of police.

"The club is deeply disturbed that the alleged conduct of one of its players has resulted in a felony charge in one state and accusations of felony conduct in another state," the Titans said in a statement. "Since the NFL is preparing to introduce a new player conduct policy and since criminal charges and investigations are in progress, comment or speculation would be inappropriate. The club is currently reviewing its options with respect to the player."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league would have no comment other than "it will be reviewed under the personal conduct policy."

Jones has been involved in 10 incidents that have drawn the attention of police since he was drafted in 2005. Johnson currently is serving 120 days in jail for violating parole after three handguns, three rifles and 500 rounds of ammunition were found in his house in December.

Jones and Johnson have made themselves easy targets for Goodell. They both could get hit with one-year suspensions.

Goodell said he won't be looking to send a message with his discipline of Jones and Johnson, but clearly he must do something dramatic to get the attention of the of the 1,694 players in the league. Goodell has made player misconduct his No. 1 priority.

"I don't like it. I think it's a bad reflection on the NFL," Goodell said. "To some extent, I think it's how we react to it and making sure people understand it's not what the NFL represents. I don't believe it represents our players. I think it's a very few number of players. They are tainting the league, tainting the other players. We intend to try and get to it as quickly as possible and try to remove it. We will have a personal conduct policy that will be stronger."

Goodell said he has not heard from any league sponsors complaining about player conduct. "But I'm not waiting for that," he said. "In my view, we have to act before we have people complaining about that. We believe we are held to a higher standard, we believe our players, coaches and everyone involved with the NFL, including the commissioner, should be held to a higher standard."

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