MAR 22 (afternoon)--Head coach Gunther Cunningham returned to work today after a week's absence to attend the annual NFL owner's meetings in Phoenix, AZ. Many from Cunningham's staff are scattered throughout the country looking at college players eligible for this year's draft.

Cunningham is busy preparing for next month's mini-camp, his first opportunity to meet the team face-to-face as it's head coach. Prior to the camp, he plans to spend a significant portion of the opening week of this year's off-season program establishing new practice guidelines as well as making alterations to this year's offense and defense.

"The early days of the off-season program will include five good solid days of installation-type work," Cunningham said today. "There will be a lot of walk-throughs and teaching in preparation for the first mini-camp."

Competition will take a back seat to teaching, Cunningham said. "We're going to install our system. We want to make sure the system is right before we start any competitive work."

The Chiefs on-field workouts as part of this year's off-season program begin April 13.