Belichick Loses One in Court

Bill Belichick remained a coach without a team as a federal judge in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday denied his request for an order allowing him to seek another NFL coaching job without the New York Jets’ permission.

In a stern ruling, U.S. District Court Judge John W. Bissell said Belichick created the very problems he asked the court to solve for him when he resigned as coach of the Jets one day after being appointed to succeed Bill Parcells.

His lawyers claimed the NFL is preventing Belichick from making a living.

“But who does he have to blame for that?” Bissell asked. “He had a head coaching position with the New York Jets, highly compensated, with the prestige, the title, the exposure, the market and the team that certainly should have provided to him adequate rewards.

“It was he who turned his back on that,” Bissell said in denying Belichick’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have enabled him to seek coaching opportunities with other NFL teams, notably the New England Patriots. “In large measure, he put himself in this position.”

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Derrick Thomas underwent more than four hours of surgery in a Miami hospital to rebuild part of his spine and doctors said his spinal cord was not damaged as badly as feared. A neurosurgeon said Thomas’ spinal cord was severely bruised, not severed, in an accident in the snow in Kansas City on Sunday. Doctors expressed hope he’d walk again.

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed how happy they are with the job rookie quarterback Shaun King did this season when they declined to exercise a $4.6-million option on Trent Dilfer’s contract. Dilfer, 26, becomes an unrestricted free agent.

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The NFL Players Assn. filed a grievance against the Arizona Cardinals, claiming the team violated the collective bargaining agreement last year by negotiating a deal with franchise player Rob Moore designed to ensure the franchise player tag could be used on a different player this year. . . . Indianapolis Colt rookie Steve Muhammad won’t face charges in connection with his wife’s death, prosecutors said. Nichole Muhammad died Nov. 7 after injuries from a car accident forced her into premature labor. The Colt rookie was arrested 10 days earlier on misdemeanor domestic battery charges. . . . Denver Bronco wide receiver Rod Smith denied charges that he beat, choked and dragged his common-law wife during a dispute in their suburban home in Castle Rock, Colo. Smith was arrested Monday after surrendering to sheriff officers. He was released on $5,000 bond.

Bill Musgrave, 32, was promoted from quarterback coach to offensive coordinator by the Carolina Panthers. . . . The Minnesota Vikings added three more fired Green Bay assistant coaches to their staff, including defensive coordinator Emmitt Thomas, a day after Sherman Lewis was brought in to run the offense. Former Packer receiver coach Charlie Baggett also joined Dennis Green’s staff and Thomas brought along Chuck Knox Jr., who will provide computer analysis. . . . Viking General Manager Tim Connolly resigned effective Feb. 1 after 15 months on the job. . . . The New England Patriots interviewed former Pittsburgh director of operations Tom Donahoe for the position of general manager.