Jets May Have a Backup Plan: O’Donnell Out, Testaverde In

Neil O’Donnell is about to become a former New York Jet, and free agent Vinny Testaverde is close to returning home to replace him.

If a meeting between Jet Coach Bill Parcells and Testaverde’s agent, Michael Azzarelli, goes well today, Testaverde is ready to sign, and the high-priced O’Donnell will be released after two mostly unproductive seasons.

O’Donnell’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, was told Tuesday by Parcells that because the quarterback was unwilling to rework his contract for 1998, his services are no longer needed. This season, $6.65 million of O’Donnell’s five-year, $25-million deal was to count against the salary cap.

Hockey

After an agonizing, two-month review of his performance, Toronto Maple Leaf Coach Mike Murphy finally was fired.

“We did some good things, but in the end we didn’t make it,” Maple Leaf President and General Manager Ken Dryden said. “We have to get better.”

Dryden said he hopes to have a coach in place for Saturday’s draft, but wouldn’t discuss specific names. Pat Quinn was seen as a top candidate after meeting with Dryden over the weekend, but was noncommittal when reached at his home in Vancouver.

Murphy coached the Kings for parts of two seasons (1986-87 and ‘87-88) and had a record of 20-37-8.

Don Waddell, assistant general manager of the Detroit Red Wings this season, was named general manager of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers. . . . The Nashville Predators hired David Fenton as director of player personnel. Fenton spent the past five seasons working for the Mighty Ducks.

Jurisprudence

Louisiana State running back Kevin Faulk’s arrest for resisting an officer was not lawful and the resistance he used in an incident outside a Carencro, La., bar was reasonable, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a decision made public Tuesday at Baton Rouge.

The appeals court upheld State District Judge Glennon Everett’s decision that Carencro police had no right to detain Faulk after a disturbance during Mardi Gras in 1996.

Two companions of Kentucky basketball player Jamaal Magloire were arrested on drug possession charges at Louisville after police found marijuana and heroin inside the Jeep in which the three were riding, police said.

Officers searched Magloire after the arrest of his companions Sunday night but found no contraband, said officer Dave Lehman, a spokesman for the Jefferson County police. Magloire, 20, was allowed to go free, he said.

A sexual assault charge against Dave Meggett has been withdrawn by prosecutors in Toronto.

The former New England Patriots’ return specialist is still charged with theft with violence, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Miscellany

Four-time Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur champion Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys shot a four-under-par 68 and came from behind to win medalist honors in the 87th state amateur championship. Match play among 32 competitors begins today, with a 36-hole final Saturday at Pebble Beach.

Brown University agreed to settle a federal Title IX lawsuit by keeping roughly the same percentage of women on intercollegiate teams as in its student body. Brown also will guarantee more money for four women’s sports for three years.

The United States virtually assured itself a spot in this summer’s baseball World Cup in Italy after beating Colombia, 6-4, in a qualifying tournament at Managua, Nicaragua.

Fernando Vargas stopped Anthony Stephens at the end of the fifth round in a junior middleweight fight at the Blue Horizon in Philadelphia. . . . NCAA Executive Director Cedric Dempsey received a raise of about $150,000, to $650,000 at the end of fiscal 1997, a raise negotiated in virtual secrecy, the Kansas City Star reported. . . . Northwestern received the American Football Coaches Assn.’s Academic Achievement Award in recognition of its 100% graduation rate last year. All 20 members of Northwestern’s football team in the Class of 1997 graduated. . . . Atlanta Hawk Coach Lenny Wilkens joined John Wooden as the only two-time inductees into the Basketball Hall of Fame, first as a player, then as a coach. . . . Greg Moore was put on probation by CART for dangerous driving during the opening lap of the Budweiser-G.I. Joe’s 200 at Portland, Ore. . . . The Harlem Globetrotters will sponsor a team to play in the Fila Summer Pro League, held at Long Beach State from July 11 to Aug. 2.