Sports in Brief | Osborne to stay with Nebraska through 2010
Tom Osborne, 70, will remain Nebraska's athletic director through 2010 as the school's football program tries to rebound from its second losing season in 46 years.
Tom Osborne
, 70, will remain Nebraska's athletic director through 2010 as the school's football program tries to rebound from its second losing season in 46 years.
Osborne coached the Cornhuskers from 1972 to 1997 and won three national titles in his final four years. He became interim athletic director in October and helped hire former Nebraska assistant
Bo Pelini
as coach on Dec. 2.
Kansas'
Mark Mangino
was named the Associated Press college football coach of the year yesterday after leading the Jayhawks to a school-record 11 wins and earning a spot in the Orange Bowl.
AP college football poll voters, made up of sportswriters and broadcasters, gave Mangino 28 of a possible 58 votes, easily outdistancing Missouri's
Gary Pinkel
, who had 11. Hawaii's
June Jones
was third (seven votes), and Illinois coach
Ron Zook
fourth (five votes).
Rutgers associate coach
Darren Rizzi
was hired as football coach at Rhode Island.
Rizzi, 37, a former tight end at Rhode Island, replaces
Tim Stowers
, who was fired last month. Rizzi agreed to a five-year deal with a base pay of $160,000.
Former Washington football coach
Rick Neuheisel
, now the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, confirmed that UCLA, his alma mater, has contacted him about replacing the fired
Karl Dorrell
.
Eagles assistant coach
John Harbaugh
also has been mentioned as a candidate.
Ball State apologized to former basketball coach
Ronny Thompson
after an outside review found "unprofessional behavior" by an employee tainted the school's report to the NCAA on possible rules violations.
The school's statement also said the university and Thompson agreed he had not lied during an internal investigation in May into possible rules violations.
Ball State said the school and Thompson, a son of Hall of Fame coach
John Thompson
, had resolved a dispute surrounding his July resignation after a 9-22 record in his lone season with the Cardinals.
Greg Cross
, a quarterback at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas who passed for 2,564 yards this season, has signed on with the University of Pittsburgh and will begin school next month.
Baseball
Boston Red Sox pitcher
Curt Schilling
, writing in his blog, called on
Roger Clemens
to give up the four Cy Young Awards he has won since 1997 if he cannot clear his name from allegations that he used steroids to prolong and enhance his career.
Free-agent pitcher
Carlos Silva
and the Seattle Mariners are close to completing a four-year contract, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press.
The former Phillie was with Minnnesota last season.
The Colorado Rockies signed righthander
Kip Wells
, formerly with the St. Louis Cardinals, and lefthander
Mark Redman
to one-year contracts. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Redman helped the Rockies reach the World Series last season.
The Chicago Cubs hired former Pittsburgh general manager
Dave Littlefield
as a scout.
Tony Franklin
, who guided the Trenton Thunder to their first Eastern League championship in 2007, will return as manager of the New York Yankees' double-A affiliate.
Olympics
Former International Olympic Committee president
Juan Antonio Samaranch
, 87, was hospitalized in Barcelona, Spain, after a dizzy spell.
Noteworthy
Ed Sabol
, the founder of NFL Films;
Roone Arledge
, a former chairman of ABC Sports; broadcasters
Howard Cosell
and
Jim McKay
; and former NFL commissioner
Pete Rozelle
were among the first group of 11 inductees last week into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in New York.
Tiger Woods
,
Lorena Ochoa
and
Jay Haas
repeated as players of the year on their respective tours as voted by the Golf Writers Association of America.