Wilkens Named Coach of U.S. Olympic Team

Atlanta Hawk Coach Lenny Wilkens will be at home during the 1996 Summer Olympics as coach of the U.S. men’s basketball team.

The announcement Monday, rumored for months, came at the end of an NBA regular season in which Wilkens moved ahead of Red Auerbach to the top of the NBA list for victories.

C.M. Newton, USA Basketball’s president, said three assistants will be chosen in June--one from the NBA and two from colleges--and the first group of players, all from the NBA, will be selected in late July or early August for the July 19-Aug. 4 Games in Atlanta.

Wilkens was the assistant to Chuck Daly at the 1992 Games.

Pro Football

The Miami Dolphins signed quarterback Dan McGwire, a first-round draft choice in 1991 with Seattle who played in seven games with three starts for the Seahawks last season before becoming a free agent. He will back up Dan Marino and Bernie Kosar in Miami.

One week after retiring, former quarterback Joe Montana is scheduled to appear at a news conference in Minneapolis, where he is expected to announce that he will become part-owner of the Target-Chip Ganassi Indy car racing team.

The Arizona Cardinals fired Bob Ackles, assistant general manager. . . . Glenville State wide receiver Chris George, the NCAA’s leading all-time receiver, said he had signed a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. . . . The Carolina Panthers signed Houston free-agent safety Bubba McDowell.

College Football

In the wake of reports that defensive tackle Warren Sapp failed several drug tests, Miami’s testing program could fall under NCAA scrutiny. An NCAA official said it’s a violation of NCAA rules for a school to fail to follow its own drug-testing policies. That may have happened in the case of Sapp.

The NCAA does not require a school to have a drug-testing program, but does require that one be complied with if it exists.

Ray Laiche, a member of the Tulane football team the last four years, died at 23 as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident. He played defensive end, linebacker and tight end at Tulane and lacked only three days of classes and final examinations to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Names in the News

Carlos Queiroz, coach of Sporting Lisbon in Portugal’s first division, has been offered the position of director of technical coaching and youth player development by the U.S. Soccer Federation, President Alan Rothenberg said.

A former Washington State baseball player, Michael Glen Walker, 38, pleaded guilty in suburban Seattle to first-degree murder in the death of a man he believed had been involved with his wife.

Kendric Brooks, a two-time all-state player for Hartnell in Salinas, signed with Fresno State and new basketball Coach Jerry Tarkanian. Brooks, 6 feet 5 and 205 pounds, was third in scoring among California community college players last season at 24.7 points a game.

Mike Knuble, Craig Charron and Jon Morris each had a goal and an assist as the United States defeated Austria, 5-2, in the World Hockey Championships in Stockholm.

After sailing around the world for more than seven months, Christophe Auguin was 763 miles from the finish line and a second consecutive BOC title. The Frenchman, one of 12 still racing, hoped to arrive in Charleston, S.C., on Thursday.

Miscellany

Conference USA will begin basketball competition next season, its organizers said. Alabama Birmingham, Cincinnati, DePaul, Marquette, Memphis and Saint Louis from the Great Midwest will join Louisville, North Carolina Charlotte, Southern Mississippi, South Florida and Tulane of the Metro in a league that will have championships in 18 sports. Houston will begin play in 1996. . . . Cory McClenathan of Irvine earned his first NHRA victory of the season, driving a dragster owned by former Washington Redskin coach Joe Gibbs at the Fram Nationals at Atlanta Dragway. McClenathan won in the Top Fuel category with a run of 4.806 seconds, 298.90 m.p.h. John Force of Yorba Linda won in Funny Car, Mark Osborne in Pro Stock and David Schultz in Pro Stock Motorcycle. . . . The winner of the U.S. Olympics men’s marathon trial at Charlotte, N.C., next Feb. 17 will take home a record-breaking $100,000 from a total purse of $250,000. The previous largest first-place purse was $75,000 awarded to the winner of the 1995 Boston Marathon. . . . All tickets for the 1996 Women’s Final Four at Charlotte, N.C., next March 29 and 31 have been sold, the earliest sellout in the event’s history. The Charlotte Coliseum has a capacity of 22,949. . . . Mark Johnson (23-1) of Washington stopped Mauro Diaz (31-13-3) of Alhambra in the third round of their flyweight bout at the Forum.