Sports in Brief: NCAA told to release Fla. State documents

The NCAA must release copies of its response to Florida State's appeal of penalties stemming from academic violations, Florida Attorney General

Bill McCollum

said yesterday.

In a letter addressed to NCAA president Myles Brand, the attorney general said failure to release the contents of the letter or provide access to them could result in a $1,000 fine, a year in jail, or both.

"In as much as the NCAA has provided the letter in a format which the university may only view, but not download or otherwise copy, it appears that the NCAA is therefore acting as the custodian of this record on behalf of the university," McCollum wrote. "A lack of physical custody of a document does not excuse Florida State from its obligations under Florida law."

NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said Thursday that private correspondence between the NCAA and its member institutions has long been established to maintain the integrity of investigations.

The matter arose from an academic cheating scandal at the school that would strip it of wins in 10 sports, including victories achieved by longtime football coach Bobby Bowden.

Bowden could possibly lose as many as 14 of his career victories if the penalty from the case sticks. That would make it difficult for him to compete with Penn State's Joe Paterno in their race for most victories among major college coaches. Paterno begins the 2009 season with 383, one more than Bowden.

Bob Frederick, an accomplished college athletic administrator who took lots of heat for hiring an obscure assistant named Roy Williams, has died. The 69-year-old Frederick sustained head injuries in a bicyling accident on Thursday near the University of Kansas campus, where he lived. He died at University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., according to family spokeswoman Kelly Hale. In 1989, as athletic director at Kansas, he passed up dozens of experienced basketball coaches and took a chance on Williams, who was the No. 2 assistant at North Carolina.

Temple has received an oral commitment from Wyatt Benson, a 2010 grad of the Haverford School. Wyatt is a 6-foot, 215-pound linebacker.

The Rose Bowl will be televised on ESPN beginning in January 2011, giving the cable channel broadcast rights to all BCS games.

Former two-time light-heavyweight champion

Chad Dawson

has agreed to a rematch with

Glen Johnson

this fall. Dawson (28-0, 17 KOs) beat Johnson (49-12-2, 33 KOs) last year in possibly his toughest fight, when the 40-year-old former champion lost a close and disputable unanimous decision. Dawson later vacated his title after the IBF refused to grant an exception to an immediate defense against mandatory challenger

Tavoris Cloud

.

Mine That Bird trainer

Chip Woolley

said that the Kentucky Derby winner would next run in the West Virginia Derby on Aug. 1, and then the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 29.

Ashley Force

Hood

topped Funny Car qualifying in the United Association NHRA SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park. Force Hood had a 4.071-second run at 303.37 m.p.h. in her Ford Mustang.

Last year, Scott Kalitta was killed after his Funny Car burst into flames and crashed at the end of the track during the final round of qualifying. As a safety measure following Kalitta's death, the NHRA cut the length of Top Fuel and Funny Car races from the traditional quarter-mile to 1,000 feet - a reduction of 320 feet.

General Motors has told NASCAR teams it is cutting back on its support in all of the sanctioning body's professional series. Among the teams already notified that they will lose funding are JR Motorsports, owned by Sprint Cup star

Dale Earnhardt Jr.,

and

Kevin Harvick

Inc.

Hershey defeated Manitobam, 4-1, to take the Calder Cup. The Bears won the American Hockey League championship series 4-2.