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Schwartz Ready To Go

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The Associated Press

Published: January 17, 2009

DETROIT - Jim Schwartz faces the biggest challenge among the 32 NFL teams next season: turning around a team that didn't win a single game.

Bring it on, says the Detroit Lions' new coach.

"There's no better feeling in football than turning a situation around. That's what drives me here," the 42-year-old former Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator said during his introductory news conference Friday at Ford Field.

The Lions badly want Schwartz to come up with a formula to fix a franchise coming off the NFL's first 0-16 season, an eight-season stretch that has been the worst in the league since World War II and a run of more than 50 years with only one playoff win.

"I can't speak of the past, I'm here right now," Schwartz said. "I'm not here to exorcise any ghosts."

While Detroit's football future is far from certain, Schwartz told reporters they can count on at least one thing.

"We'll put a team on the field that you'll be proud of," he said a day after agreeing to a four-year contract worth about $11 million.

The son of a police officer and deceased mother who raised nine kids, Schwartz said he was a blue-collar guy who will fit in well with the culture of Detroit.

"This is what I am," Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he owns only two suits that fit, finding out recently a third is too small because of the weight he gained during the season.

"He's a football guy - I love that," General Manager Martin Mayhew said.

Schwartz's coming-out party was the culmination of years of hard work in the NFL.

He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Maryland in 1989, later had the same position at Minnesota and went on to become a secondary coach for North Carolina Central and linebackers coach at Colgate.

The Baltimore native became a head coaching candidate in recent years.

COWBOYS: Fired defensive coordinator Brian Stewart after two seasons.

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