Front Office

In an effort to further compartmentalize its front office, the Union added longtime Philadelphia sports executive Dave Rowan as executive vice president and chief revenue officer. Rowan, who held positions with both the Eagles and Phillies in addition to the Jacksonville Jaguars, will oversee corporate sales, involving marketing, ticket sales and general revenue. "Dave will be a huge asset to our organization," said Union president Tom Veit. "Not only is he a Philly guy with a great reputation but he also possesses an understanding of the Union culture and our relationship with our supporters.

It is hard to imagine anyone who looks bad compared to the Lords of Baseball, a group differentiated from the student body at Allenwood Federal Prison or the State Home for the Bewildered only by larger bank accounts. It is hard to imagine Marge Schott. She is rude and crude and not very bright, thus debunking the myth that smart and rich necessarily go together. She mistreats employees, venerates a dog, routinely makes racist remarks, treasures a swastika armband and never misses an opportunity to say something abysmally dimwitted.

Former Flyers captain Dave Poulin has joined the Toronto Maple Leafs' front office. Poulin was unveiled yesterday as the club's new vice president of hockey operations. Best known for his days with the Flyers (1982-90), where he led the team to the Stanley Cup finals in 1985 and '87, Poulin played 12 seasons in the NHL with the Flyers, with whom he signed as a free agent after playing at Notre Dame, the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals. He played 724 career NHL games, with 205 goals and 325 assists.

Chicago's college scouting and pro personnel directors are leaving the club, making way for new general manager Jerry Angelo to bring in his own people. Bill Rees, director of college scouting, previously received permission to speak with San Francisco 49ers. Scott Campbell, director of pro personnel, received permission to speak with the Washington Redskins, according to Bears officials. Redskins. Washington agreed to a one-year, $1.1 million deal with offensive lineman Ben Coleman.

Coach George Karl and president-general manager Bob Whitsitt of the Seattle Supersonics both got something they wanted yesterday: Karl got a better contract, and Whitsitt got permission to leave. In settling a front-office mess that at times approached comedy, the Sonics said they had agreed to release Whitsitt from the final three years of his five-year contract. They also agreed to amend Karl's contract, which was to have expired after the 1996-97 season. Karl had been making about $600,000 a year.

The Buffalo Sabres removed second-year president Doug Moss and replaced him with Larry Quinn, the man who guided the Sabres into a new $127 million arena, the team said yesterday. The move appears to end a power struggle between Moss and Quinn, who was a candidate for the president's job when Moss got it in December 1994. "The decision to make this change and have a mutual agreement with Doug did not occur in rapid fashion," Sabres co-founder Northrup Knox said. "This has been in the works for some time.

The wind appears to have shifted. After almost a full year of admitting mistaken player analyses and his culpability for them, Eagles coach Ray Rhodes yesterday sounded a different note. Now, it looks as if it's Rhodes vs. the front office again, as indicated in a preemptive strike from the coach regarding the future of the team's best player. When asked about the likelihood of the Eagles re-signing Pro Bowl running back Ricky Watters when his contract expires in February, and if he felt Watters should be back - if he was considered a part of the team's long-term core - Rhodes responded: "Deservedly so. " Reflecting on the huge price tag Watters likely will sport - around $4 million a year - and the team's penchant for neither issuing huge signing bonuses nor committing to star players on the open market, Rhodes continued: "I think it's important that people understand that when the negotiation part comes down, that's the key thing; when the negotiation comes down.

According to quarterback Jim McMahon of the Chicago Bears, the Super Bowl champions will "self-destruct" if they continue to take a hard line on signing potential holdouts. McMahon was in Washington Saturday to be honored by the National Quarterback Club, which benefits cystic fibrosis research. And he used the occasion to take some swipes at the club's front office. He told the black-tie audience that after Chicago's 46-10 Super Bowl win over the Patriots last month, President Reagan made a collect phone call to congratulate him. "But knowing how cheap the Bears are, they wouldn't accept the call," he said.

Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. has finalized his front office staff. A baseball source said last night that Amaro will hire Scott Proefrock, Baltimore's director of baseball administration, as an assistant general manager. An announcement could come today. Amaro already has named Benny Looper and Chuck Lamar assistant general managers. Proefrock will assume the role Amaro had under former general managers Ed Wade and Pat Gillick, which was handling big-league contracts and the composition of the roster.

Take our DN Sports Quiz about Philly sports trades on PhillyDailyNews.com for a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card. Use promo code Q48X. CHICAGO - They probably weren't the main topic of conversation during the NBA predraft combine last week in the Windy City, but the 76ers' situation certainly was at the forefront of a lot of talk. With the hiring of Sam Hinkie as president of basketball operations and general manager, more questions seemed to have come about than answers.

Baseball rewards panic the same way a pit bull rewards sudden movement. There's no future in simply turning and running from a bad start from a baseball team, or in trying to repair a six-month season with a few weeks of glue and duct tape. The Phillies were constructed for 2013 on the precarious hope that their aging veteran starters would pitch well and that their aging everyday players would regain their productivity. Around that central theme, the front office sprinkled journeymen and prospects who might be good enough if everything else went right.

THE NAMES will continue to be floated out there as to whom the 76ers are going to interview for their vacant coaching position, many of the names listed here in the Daily News a couple of weeks ago. But the main priority right now is to solidify the front office, whether it is keeping who is there (such as general manager Tony DiLeo) or cleaning house. As majority owner Josh Harris said the day after the end of the season, "Everything is on the table. " And right now the main dish on the table is the front office, with the coaching decision a side dish.

THE QUESTION has been answered, officially: There will be no playoffs for the 76ers this season. Saturday's 106-87 loss at Miami, combined with Milwaukee's home win over Toronto, sealed the deal. Now coming to the forefront: Questions about where this organization will go during the offseason. Do you seriously consider trying to re-sign Andrew Bynum? Where will you fall in the lottery and whom do you target for the June 27 draft? Who on this current roster is worthy of staying? Is there tweaking to the current roster or a massive overhaul?

It's only March and Von Miller is already guaranteeing a Super Bowl title for the Denver Broncos next season. Miller says he's dedicating the season to his 6-year-old cousin, who recently emerged from a coma after a car accident with his mother and older brother in West Texas. On Monday, Miller tweeted: "You can post this where ever.. Denver broncos will win the Super Bowl" in the 2013 season. He added hash tags "4UJEREMIAH" and "IGUARANTEEIT58. "   Front office tweaked A week from chasing NFL free agents, the Cleveland Browns changed their front office.

Patience has never been the most enduring quality of the Flyers organization, and in this lockout-shortened season every player and coach has heard the clock ticking louder and louder with each passing week. If the team keeps following the same lines it has etched in the ice so far, something is going to change sooner than later. The Flyers haven't won more than two games in a row this season, and almost every game that showed progress was followed quickly by one that looked like a step backward.

THE 76ERS are no doubt listening to any and all calls as Thursday's trading deadline approaches, especially with the uncertainty surrounding the health status of center Andrew Bynum. General manager Tony DiLeo has said numerous times that he is not willing to mortgage the future of the organization to get a player who will have only a short stay here. The problem is that besides Jrue Holiday and Thaddeus Young, both signed to long-term contracts, who else is in the future plans?

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Michael Schwimer should not be here. The tall, bushy-haired pitcher sits alone most mornings at his locker in the center of the Phillies clubhouse at Bright House Field. When Schwimer challenged management's decision six months ago to send him to triple A rather than place him on the disabled list, it created friction in an already strained relationship. The Phillies had every reason to cut ties this winter. They did not. "The whole front office wants to win," Schwimer said.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Basketball great Larry Bird's son has been arrested after police say he tried to run over his ex-girlfriend with a car. Twenty-one-year-old Conner Anthony Bird faces preliminary charges, including intimidation with a deadly weapon, battery with injury and possession of marijuana. Indiana University police arrested Bird on Sunday morning. They say his ex-girlfriend told an officer that Bird threw a cellphone at her and drove his car at her during an argument.

The Eagles took responsibility for $3 million of whatever is left of quarterback Michael Vick on Wednesday when they let pass the deadline for releasing him and getting away without a nickel's obligation for the 2013 season. Everyone agrees it was the smart play and allows another month for new coach Chip Kelly to figure out his battle plan for the quarterback position. When the NFL calendar actually flips on March 12 with the opening of the free-agent season, Vick could be jettisoned then, with the Eagles only liable for any portion of the $3 million that he doesn't make elsewhere.