Coach Dick Jauron of the Chicago Bears is Named Staples NFL Coach of the Year; Staples to Donate $25,000 on Coach's Behalf.

Sports, Business and TV Assignment Editors

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2002

Staples Inc. and the National Football League announced Coach Dick Jauron of the Chicago Bears as the 2001 Staples NFL Coach of the Year during the AFC Championship pre-game show on CBS Television.

Coach Jauron will receive a trophy and $25,000 will be donated in his name to his selected charity, the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago. The hospital is a non-profit organization, which provides kid-focused care at 12 Chicagoland locations and is ranked one of the top 10 children's hospitals in the nation.

Jauron is celebrating what is being described as the greatest single-season turnaround in the history of the Bears organization. Jauron lead the team to a 2001 NFC Central Divisional Championship win, the team's first since 1990, and finished the season with an impressive 13-3 record.

"Staples is proud to name Dick Jauron our 2001 Coach of the Year," said Thomas Stemberg, Staples chairman and chief executive officer. "With his proven leadership, dedication to his team and obvious popularity with fans...he truly deserves the recognition."

Jauron, a 26-year veteran of the NFL as a player and coach, began his coaching career in 1985 as the defensive backs coach for the Buffalo Bills. In 1986, he left for Green Bay where he spent the next nine seasons as the Packers' defensive backs coach until 1994. He then spent four seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars who reached the playoffs three times including a trip to the AFC Championships in 1996. After playing a major role in the Jaguars' success, Jauron joined the Bears as head coach in 1999. He also was named the 2001 Associated Press Coach of the Year.

Now in its fourth year, the Staples NFL Coach of the Year award is the only NFL award decided solely by fans. More than 190,000 football fans participated in the online balloting this season.

Last season, the Staples NFL Coach of the Year was Jim Haslett of the New Orleans Saints. Other past winners include Dick Vermeil of the St. Louis Rams in 1999 and Dan Reeves of the Atlanta Falcons in 1998.

The Staples NFL Coach of the Year award complements the Staples Coach of the Week program that honors an NFL head coach each week for an outstanding game during the regular season. In conjunction with this recognition, a local school in that coach's region is randomly drawn from entries to receive a $5,000 Staples gift certificate and a visit from the coach. The Staples Coach of the Week program, now in its sixth year, has donated more than $500,000 in school supplies to schools nationwide.

Staples Inc. is an $11 billion retailer of office supplies, furniture, and technology to consumers and businesses from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered outside Boston, Staples invented the office superstore concept and today is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. The company has over 50,000 employees serving customers through more than 1,400 office superstores, mail order catalogs, e-commerce and a contract business. More information about the company is available at http://www.staples.com.