FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BW SportsWire)--Dec. 1, 2000--Starting on Friday, December 1, 2000, fans can vote online for the NFL head coach they believe deserves this year's Staples NFL Coach of the Year award. From December 1, 2000 through January 27, 2001, fans can log onto www.nfl.com to make sure their vote is counted in the only NFL award determined solely by a vote of the fans.

The three finalists will be announced on January 21, 2001 during a half-hour "Staples NFL Coach of the Year Finalist" special airing at 12:30 p.m. EST on CBS. Fans can continue to vote for one of the three finalists through Jan. 27. The winning head coach will be announced during the Super Bowl half-time show on CBS. In addition, $25,000 will be presented to the coach's selected charity on behalf of Staples and the NFL.

"Excellence is determined not only by a coach's winning record but by the admiration of his fans, which makes this award one of the greatest honors in football today," said Thomas Stemberg, Staples chairman and chief executive officer.

"Voting on NFL.com for the Staples NFL Coach of the Year enables fans around the world to voice their opinion for this year's top coach," said Roger Goodell, the NFL's executive vice president of business, properties and club services. "We are pleased to offer our fans this opportunity and hope all of our fans will participate."

The program, now in its third year, announced the St. Louis Ram's Dick Vermeil as last season's winner and Coach Dan Reeves, of the Atlanta Falcons, as the first winner of the 1998 Staples NFL Coach of the Year award. Online balloting reached a record high in last year's voting with 300,000 votes cast overall. Participation is expected to be even higher this year with Internet usage and traffic at an all-time high on nfl.com, the most popular sports league website.

The Staples NFL Coach of the Year award compliments 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. Now in its fifth year, more than $385,000 in school supplies has been donated to schools nationwide through the Staples Coach of the Week program.

Staples Inc., (NASDAQ:SPLS), is a $9 billion provider of office supplies, furniture, technology and services to consumers and businesses of all sizes in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. Headquartered near Boston, Staples invented the office superstore concept and is the largest operator of office superstores in the world. The company has 50,000 employees who help customers slash the cost and hassle of running their businesses through more than 1,200 retail superstores, an e-commerce business, direct mail order operations under the brands of Staples and subsidiary Quill Corporation, and a national accounts contract business. More information about the company is available at http://www.staples.com.

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