Sports in Brief | College football taps chief of officials
David Parry, a longtime college and NFL referee, will be the first national coordinator of college football officiating. Parry, coordinator of football officials for the Big Ten Conference, will oversee national training programs for referees, assign and evaluate postseason officiating crews, and coordinate national meetings of the referees, the NCAA said yesterday.
David Parry
, a longtime college and NFL referee, will be the first national coordinator of college football officiating.
Parry, coordinator of football officials for the Big Ten Conference, will oversee national training programs for referees, assign and evaluate postseason officiating crews, and coordinate national meetings of the referees, the NCAA said yesterday.
His experience includes 20 NCAA tournaments, 12 NFL playoffs and four NFL championship games. He officiated at the Super Bowl in 1983.
Southern Illinois introduced
Dale Lennon
, 47, as its football coach, handing the former North Dakota coach a program that came one victory short of the national-title game this season.
Lennon signed a five-year contract that will pay him $200,000 a year, the school said.
Lennon succeeds
Jerry Kill
, who resigned to take over at Northern Illinois less than a week after he guided the Salukis (12-2) to the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision.
Lennon led North Dakota, his alma mater, to the Division II national title in 2001, a national runner-up finish. The Fighting Sioux went 10-2 this season, advancing to the second round of the Division II playoffs.
Drexel women's basketball coach
Denise Dillon
said
Kamile Nacickaite
(Saiuliai, Lithuania), a forward who plays in Denver;
Tyler Hale
and
Ayana Lee
(both from Baltimore); and
Marisa Crane
(Emmaus) have signed national letters of intent to join the Dragons for the 2008-09 season.
Horse racing
Patrick Valenzuela
, whose career has been marred by a history of substance abuse and suspensions, has been stripped of his conditional jockey license in Arcadia, Calif., after being arrested Dec. 20 in Upland on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
The New York Racing Association agreed to an extension with the state to avoid any interruption of thoroughbred racing at Aqueduct the next few weeks. Its agreement to operate Aqueduct, Saratoga and Belmont Park expires Monday.
Winter sports
Colin Wilson
scored twice to lead the United States to a 4-2 victory over Switzerland in Liberec, Czech Republic, and move it atop Group B in the under-20 World Ice Hockey Championship.
Denise Karbon of Italy won her third straight giant slalom, in Lienz, Austria, in a World Cup race in which
Julia Mancuso
of the United States finished second and teammate
Resi Stiegler
crashed and broke her arm and shin.
Stiegler, America's giant-slalom national champion, was hospitalized with a broken left forearm and right shin bone, torn ligaments in the right knee, and a bruised face and hip after her spill halfway down the course. She will undergo surgery in the United States.
Austrian skier
Hans Grugger
will miss the rest of the World Cup season after surgery on his left knee in Innsbruck, Austria.
Track and field
The former agent for disgraced sprinter
Marion Jones
has been suspended for two years by USA Track and Field.
The penalty dates from March 22, when
Charles Wells
pleaded guilty to bank fraud in a money-laundering case that also ensnared Jones; her ex-boyfriend, sprinter
Tim Montgomery
; and her former coach,
Steve Riddick
.
The suspension was ordered by the agents screening committee, a USATF spokeswoman said.