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SAN DIEGO — High on the to-do list for the Chargers offense is juicing up the ground game, a pressing priority for a franchise whose last 1,000-yard rusher was Melvin Gordon in 2017.

Max McCaffrey is the team’s new running backs coach, and his last name should be familiar. His younger brother is Christian McCaffrey, All-Pro running back for the San Francisco 49ers and reigning comeback player of the year. Their father is longtime NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey, a favorite target of John Elway in Denver.

So Max knows his stuff about building a running attack, even though he was a receiver at Duke and had only fleeting stints with five NFL franchises, more often on the practice squads than the active rosters.

Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel noted with a half-smile that because Max is “definitely not the most athletic in his family,” his work ethic is “astronomically higher” than most.

Max , 32, chuckled Wednesday when informed of that wisecrack, conceding that he’s got some pretty stiff competition in his family. His dad has three Super Bowl rings — one with San Francisco, two with Denver — and mom, Lisa, was a standout soccer player at Stanford. In addition to Christian, 30, Max has brothers Dylan, 27, a former quarterback at Michigan and Northern Colorado; and Luke, a receiver and return specialist for the Washington Commanders.

They might not be quite as prominent as the Mannings or Kelces, but when it comes to football’s royal families, the McCaffreys are in the conversation.

Chargers running backs coach Max McCaffrey, left, works with running back Keaton Mitchell at training camp in El Segundo on Aug. 1.

(Los Angeles Chargers)

“I love my brothers,” Max said. “I’ll do anything for them, and I just want to see them succeed and chase what they’re passionate about.”

That certainly doesn’t quell his competitive nature, however, and he’ll have more than one chance in his current role to see brother Christian up close. The Chargers and 49ers will hold a joint practice at the Bolt on Aug. 18, and the teams will meet again in a Thursday night game on Dec. 17 at SoFi Stadium.

“My brother’s been my best friend and one of my biggest mentors my entire life,” Christian told The Times Wednesday. “We’re always bouncing ideas off each other. Obviously, he played receiver, but he has such a massive knowledge for football in general. He’s been a coordinator. He’s coached different position groups. Now that he’s got the running back job, it’s so fun just bouncing ideas off of each other.

“I never think I have it all figured out, so getting tips from him feels very familiar.”

Likewise, Max said that while Christian doesn’t share trade secrets with him, he does tap into the running back know-how of his younger brother, collecting tidbits on how best to train and prepare players for the rigorous job.

The eldest McCaffrey son called the 49ers star “the most intentional person I know.”

“He wakes up with a purpose,” Max said. “His day is planned from the second he wakes up to the minute he goes to sleep.”

That’s the kind of laser focus that can help a young running back such as Omarion Hampton, selected 22nd overall by the Chargers in the 2025 draft.

Ed McCaffrey was head coach at Northern Colorado from 2020-22 and had Max on his staff all three seasons, first as receivers coach, then as offensive coordinator for the final two seasons.

“I think it’s tremendous,” Ed said of his son’s play-calling experience. “It’s tremendous for the whole process because it allows you to set your vision as to how much you need to own at the NFL level running an offense.

“He got to really invest into the details across all positions, getting a firm, tangible example of what he needs from position coaches. So to be prepared to be a position coach, I think it directly helped him in that process.”

When McDaniel was head coach of the Miami Dolphins, he brought on Max as an offensive assistant from 2023-25. When McDaniel got the Chargers job, he brought Max with him, giving him a key position to oversee.

Chargers running backs coach Max McCaffrey, working with running back Kimani Vidal in offseason workouts in May, said, “I love my brothers. I’ll do anything for them, and I just want to see them succeed and chase what they’re passionate about.”

(Los Angeles Chargers)

Joked McDaniel: “For fantasy owners out there, if you’re not liking your output, you have Max to blame.”

Max got his name from a since-closed restaurant at the Stanford mall called Max’s Opera Cafe, where Ed and Lisa had their first date.

Since, he has worked hard to make a name for himself, and the spotlight is only growing.

McDermott’s relationship with Queiroz goes back to 2011 and has spanned three different national teams with two spells at Iran as well as one at Qatar and now Ghana, but it was a mutual connection that got the ball rolling for the two to meet.

“Carlos was considering the Iran job in 2011 and my former head coach in the USL in America was Carlos’ long-term goalkeeper coach. I was already in the Middle East, working in Abu Dhabi for a club team and the conversations started. I met Carlos in Doha, we talked and myself and two other staff members joined Carlos and accepted the Iran job and that was the start of it,” he explained.

While he did not accompany Queiroz to Colombia or Egypt, instead taking over at the “mighty Glentoran” where he won an Irish Cup, McDermott did not hesitate in following him to Qatar and now to Ghana after a spell with League of Ireland First Division side Cobh Ramblers.

“Here we are again, another brilliant project with a brilliant football nation. It’s an opportunity I don’t think anyone can say no to, to work with the Ghana football team and Carlos again, it’s been brilliant.”

While many managers and their coaching staff have a few months to plan everything from travel to squad selection for the World Cup, Queiroz and McDermott did not have that luxury.

Appointed in April, they did not get to work with their full 26-man squad until the end of May, with just one full training session before a 1-1 friendly draw against Wales on 2 June and a flight to the US the next day.

“The logistics and travel were already in place, we tweaked them a little,” he said. “A big group of our players didn’t arrive until 30 May and we didn’t have a full training session until 31 May.

“We had two days, played Wales and flew the next day to the US. We had to submit our 26-man list before we even played Wales but the players have been brilliant to work with.”

Their last-minute preparations do not seem to have hampered things on the pitch, with Ghana beating Panama 1-0 in their opening Group L game in Toronto, courtesy of a 95th-minute winner from Caleb Yirenkyi.

McDermott has been impressed with how the squad has gelled off the pitch and their musical talents.

“When they are together, as you can see from social media, there is a bond and it’s new to me. I’ve been around the Middle East, Asia, Ireland and US and have had groups with good atmospheres but this, it’s hard to express it. I stand sometimes and just enjoy it,” he said.

“It was the night before we played Panama in the hotel and they have a tradition where the day before their first game after the training session they have a prayer and a song.

“The song went from the pitch and carried on to the 30-minute bus to the hotel and carried on to the hotel and once they got going they got going, it went on for an hour and a half. When you see the positive energy it gives them it’s nice. My foot started tapping!”

June 9 (UPI) — An assistant of Jeffrey Epstein told members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday that she was unaware of his crimes but that he was a master manipulator.

Lesley Groff, Epstein’s then-executive assistant, told the committee that she believed the massage appointments she made for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists, two sources told CNN. She said Epstein had every reason to keep his crimes secret from her.

Groff helped manage Epstein’s life, including making appointments with women, setting meetings with powerful people and arranging Epstein’s flights with the young women. She worked for Epstein for nearly 20 years, and her name was listed in the Epstein files more than 150,000 times.

Epstein, a billionaire financier and registered sex offender, died by suicide in prison in 2019.

Groff told the lawmakers that she wants to help and that since Epstein was arrested, she’s lost friends and her family has faced harassment.

Groff said Epstein didn’t sexually abuse her, one of the sources told CNN, and that she didn’t need the job. She said that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell told her not to associate with their friends, and they insisted that their business was none of hers.

Survivors told a different story.

Sharlene Rochard was skeptical that Groff didn’t know about the crimes.

“One of the hardest parts for survivors is hearing the people who were closest to Epstein claim they saw nothing,” Rochard told CNN. “That doesn’t match my experience. Survivors deserve answers, not claims of ignorance.”

In a previous statement, Groff’s lawyer told CNN that she worked for Epstein as “part of a professional staff that included in-house attorneys, accountants and other office staff” and that her job included making appointments for Epstein, “taking his messages and setting up high-level meetings with CEOs, business executives, scientists, politicians, celebrities, charitable organizations and universities.”

Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., told MSNow that the panel has referred two names to the Department of Justice, though he didn’t identify them.

“I think the interviews that we’ve done have been very productive,” Comer told reporters on Tuesday morning.

“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the proof to the American people that there’s an opportunity for accountability,” Comer said.

The committee is scheduled to interview Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Wednesday.

MATTHEW Perry’s live-in assistant has been jailed for three years and five months after injecting the actor with ketamine and leaving him alone to die.

Kenneth Iwamasa, 60, learned his fate as he appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

He was the fifth and final defendant to be sentenced for playing a role in the actor’s 2023 overdose death.

Iwamasa, who was previously out on bail, avoided photographs by turning up to court at 7am when the doors opened, two hours ahead of the hearing, a source told The U.S. Sun.

He was then granted a delayed surrender date of July 17.

Los Angeles Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also ordered him to pay fines of $10,000 and $100 and be on supervised released for two years.

JAIL TIME

Matthew Perry’s street dealer gets 2yrs after admitting he’s ‘haunted by mistake’

Iwamasa wore a grey suit and matching tie with a white shirt for the hearing.

“Kenny wishes he would have had the strength to push back and say no and for that he will forever be remorseful,” his lawyer, Alan Eisner, said as he stood beside him outside of the court.

“Kenny is not the only person here who partook in this tragic event.”

He said Perry had agency, and his family should have also been there for him during his relapse.

“Mr Perry’s family could have said no along the way,” he bizarrely stated.

His loved ones previously insisted they had no idea he had fallen back into addiction.

The attorney said the blame shouldn’t all fall on his client, a man who is at the “low end of the totem pole” and wasn’t benefiting financially like those who sold him the drugs.

Asked why he left him alone to die after injecting him with the drug, the lawyer called the comments “vindictive” and said it was an unfair narrative.

Perry’s stepfather, Keith Morrison, who arrived with the actor’s mother, Suzanne, gave an emotional impact statement, along with estate manager, according to the New York Post.

Iwamasa was reportedly on the verge of tears as Morrison addressed him in court but he did not speak to reporters outside.

Although he pleaded guilty, his counsel argued that he was trapped in a toxic employer-employee dynamic and felt unable to refuse Perry’s requests.

The actor’s publicist, Lisa Calio, who was close to him for 30 years and is now the CEO of The Matthew Perry Foundation, wrote a heartbreaking letter to the judge and slammed Iwamasa.

She claimed he hatched a delusional plan to get rid of those tasked with keeping Perry safe so he could run the show and live a lavish lifestyle, before sourcing drugs for him.

She wrote, “His narcissistic, outrageous, irresponsible behavior, his psychotic plan, caused him to heat up the jacuzzi, give Matthew the giant shot he requested and leave him alone to die.”

Referencing the day Perry was found dead, she recalled, “I received a text from Kenny at 4 a.m. as he was driving one of Matthew’s cars from the house in the Hollywood Hills to the house in the Palisades. And he was loving it.”

She claimed, “Kenny convinced Matthew that there were too many people around and that he didn’t need to spend the money on them anymore. And that battle, Kenny won. I was not aware.”

Calio claimed that it was “the beginning of the end.”

She added, “Whatever sentence he receives, it won’t be long enough.

“He will always be known as the man who killed Matthew Perry, I suppose there should be some comfort in that.”

Before he was Perry’s live-in assistant, the star had other staff members and a sober companion who saved his life.

Iwamasa had been working for Perry’s manager, Doug Chapin, since the 1990s and took a more hands-on role as the actor’s live-in assistant around 2022, according to reports.

Court documents showed he was paid around $150,000 a year to assist Perry around the clock and was tasked with helping to manage his sobriety.

They lived together at a Beverly Hills rental after Perry sold his “mansion in the sky” in Century City and was waiting for renovation work to be completed on his new home in the Pacific Palisades.

As Perry relapsed, Iwamasa obtained ketamine from suppliers and was taught how to administer it, according to court documents.

Iwamasa admitted to injecting Perry with the drug three times on the day he died, including twice in 40 minutes.

He then left him alone near his hot tub at the star’s home in the Pacific Palisades, and when he returned, he found the actor unresponsive in the water.

Iwamasa was accused of repeatedly lying to investigators, including allegedly hiding the fact that he injected Perry with several ketamine shots on the day of his death, court documents also show.

He later admitted he “cleaned up the scene” during a phone call with middleman Erik Fleming, officials claimed.

The assistant reportedly said he got rid of syringes and bottles, changed passwords on Perry’s devices and “deleted everything.”

The five responsible for Matthew Perry’s death

Here are the five individuals allegedly behind Perry’s ketamine overdose.

• “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles” Jasveen Sangha – Sangha, 42, pleaded guilty in September 2025 to federal charges for supplying the ketamine that caused Matthew Perry’s fatal overdose. Prosecutors say that after Perry’s death, she reportedly searched online, “can ketamine be listed as a cause of death.” She has now been jailed for 15 years.
• “Dr. P” Dr. Salvador Plasencia – Plasencia, 44, was one of the physicians who illegally supplied ketamine to Perry before his death. He pleaded guilty in mid‑2025 to several federal counts of ketamine distribution. In December 2025, he was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined; he was remanded immediately to begin serving his term.
• Dr. Mark Chavez – Chavez, 55, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine in connection with Perry’s death. In December 2025, he was sentenced to eight months of home confinement, ordered to complete community service, and placed on supervised release.
• Kenneth Iwamasa – Iwamasa, 60, Perry’s live‑in assistant, admitted he obtained and administered ketamine to Perry as part of the scheme. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death and is set to be sentenced in May.
• Erik Fleming – Fleming, 56, an intermediary dealer who helped coordinate the flow of ketamine from suppliers to Perry’s assistant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and distribution charges. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

It was several months before it was revealed that Iwamasa played a part in Perry’s death, shocking not only his family and friends but thousands of fans worldwide.

He pleaded guilty in August 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine resulting in death and initially faced 15 years behind bars.

But prosecutors said in court documents that he provided significant cooperation in the government’s investigation, leading to a reduced sentencing recommendation of three years and four months.

Perry’s mum, Suzanne Morrison, also described Iwamasa in a victim impact statement ahead of sentencing as a “man without conscience” and said the family felt betrayed by him.

In the statement, Morrison said Iwamasa not only delivered the fatal dose but also painted himself as someone who was trying to help Perry, and even went as far as begging to speak at his funeral.

She said in court filings, “He clung to me and the family as if he was somehow the good guy who tried to save Matthew.”

She added: “We trusted a man without a conscience, and my son paid the price.”

Four others were convicted in recent months after being involved in Perry’s death.

Erik Fleming, a middleman and former drug counsellor, was sentenced to two years in prison, while Jasveen Sangha, also known as “The Ketamine Queen”, was handed 15 years.

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who was involved in supplying and administering ketamine linked to Perry, received two and a half years.

He obtained the drug from a fellow doctor, Mark Chavez, who received eight months of home detention after pleading guilty.

Perry rose to fame as Chandler Bing on the hit 90s sitcom Friends.