🏈 A coach’s climb | Sports Daily Newsletter

Thousands of college football coaches have paid their dues through the years, so it’s good to see a lifer like Curt Cignetti reach the top rung in his sport.

Cignetti’s unbeaten Indiana Hoosiers will play Miami tonight for the College Football Playoff championship (7:30, ESPN), and for the 64-year-old coach it is the culmination of quite a climb.

He was the head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Elon, and James Madison, among many other stops in his career. He also put in his time on North Broad Street as quarterbacks coach for Temple from 1989-92. Matt Breen tells the story of Cignetti’s time on Jerry Berndt’s staff, when the young coach learned by watching a master in another sport: Basketball Hall of Fame coach John Chaney.

Speaking of someone paying his dues, linebacker Mohamed Toure certainly has done that with the Miami Hurricanes. A native of Pleasantville, Atlantic County, Toure is in his seventh season of college football after ACL injuries cost him two seasons at Rutgers.

“It means a lot to the community,” says Chris Sacco, who was Toure’s head coach at Pleasantville. “I know it means a lot to the younger kids to be able to look at the school and say there’s somebody playing on Monday night for the national championship that went here, and recently.”

Beyond the local connections tonight, there is a reason for Eagles fans to tune in. Several Hoosiers and Hurricanes could be draft candidates for the Birds, and Devin Jackson identifies seven players who could fit the bill.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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A holiday break

Sports Daily is taking a break to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. There will be no newsletter on Tuesday. We’ll return to your inbox on Wednesday morning.

David Murphy’s take

Bo Bichette is headed to the Mets, much to the chagrin of Phillies fans. The reports emerging in the immediate aftermath of New York’s agreement with the former Blue Jays star shortstop on a three-year, $126 million contract suggest the Phillies thought they were on the verge of signing Bichette to a seven-year, $200 million deal. But that’s more a misreading of the state of play than it is reality, David Murphy writes.

If the Mets were willing to offer Bichette these kinds of terms, and Bichette was intent on taking the best deal for his personal finances, the Phillies weren’t going to sign him. Both of those outcomes were more likely to be the case than Bichette accepting a long-term deal that the Phillies felt made fiscal sense.

Far from clutch

With their second straight loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, the Sixers dropped from fifth to seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. They blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead in the 117-115 defeat at home.

They have played 25 “clutch” games — contests with the scoring margin at five points or less with five minutes remaining — and they have lost 12 of them, including three in a row.

“We’ve got to close games,” says Joel Embiid, “and we’ve had a lot of games that [we] probably wish we could take it back.”

Slumping and hurting

The Flyers will try to end a six-game losing streak tonight when they take on the Knights in Las Vegas (8, NBCSP+), but they’ll have to do it without Rodrigo Ābols. The team placed the fourth-line center on injured reserve after he was hurt Saturday in the loss to the Rangers. Ābols appeared to get his right toe stuck in the ice along the boards in the offensive zone, and his ankle buckled.

The Flyers called up Lane Pederson from the Phantoms to take his place.

Owls come up short

Temple ran out of gas at the Liacouras Center on Sunday, getting outscored by 10 points in the last 10 minutes of a 79-73 loss to Florida Atlantic, the first-place team in the American Conference.

Villanova had a tough time dealing with a physical St. John’s team in an 86-79 loss on Saturday.

Sports snapshot

• Hawks fall: Rhian Stokes scores 15 points, but St. Joe’s loses to George Mason.
• Winning Wildcats: Jasmine Bascoe’s 22 points boost Villanova past Butler.
• Explorers tumble: La Salle’s women drop their fourth straight.
• Ivy slump: Penn’s women have yet to win a game in league play.

On this date

Jan. 19, 2003: In the final Eagles game at Veterans Stadium, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spoiled the party with a 27-10 victory in the NFC championship game. Ronde Barber intercepted a Donovan McNabb pass and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Matt Breen, Devin Jackson, Owen Hewitt, David Murphy, Gina Mizell, Jackie Spiegel, Jeff Neiburg, Colin Schofield, Katie Lewis, Ryan Mack, Sean McKeown, and Conor Smith.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading Sports Daily. Enjoy the holiday and we’ll return to your inbox on Wednesday. — Jim