Broncos Give Smith $13.6 Million

Pro Bowl defensive end Neil Smith signed a four-year, $13.6-million contract with the Denver Broncos on Wednesday, ending speculation whether the Super Bowl champions would find enough money to keep the free agent.

Smith’s contract includes a $3.2-million signing bonus.

“We just had to go find it [the money]. We knew that Neil would command a high price tag. But he certainly is one of the premier defensive linemen,” Bronco spokesman Jim Saccomano said.

*

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers rewarded Coach Tony Dungy for leading the team to its first playoff berth since 1982, voiding the remaining four years on his contract and replacing it with a new five-year deal worth more than $6 million. Dungy will rank among the highest-paid coaches in the league after earning $650,000 last year. . . . Tight end Jackie Harris, formerly with the Buccaneers, agreed to a two-year, $2.1-million contract with the Tennessee Oilers.

Miscellany

Second-seeded Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden breezed into the third round of the $210,000 Copenhagen Open in Denmark with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Renzo Furlan of Italy.

John Scolinos, former baseball coach at Cal Poly Pomona, was named NCAA Division II coach of the century by Collegiate Baseball magazine.

Scolinos coached the Broncos for 30 years (1962-91) and led Pomona to three national championships. He retired as the winningest coach in Division II history (1,198-949).

Among players Scolinos coached at Pomona who eventually made the major leagues: Alan Fowlkes, Darrell Miller, Wayne Gross, Mitchell Page and Mike Munoz.

The United States’ final game before the World Cup will be May 30 at RFK Stadium against Scotland, the U.S. Soccer Federation said. The game was originally scheduled for Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

Two Iowa wrestlers were injured, one seriously, in a car accident near Rochester, Minn.

Jeff Stewart remained unconscious but in stable condition after undergoing two operations, one to remove his spleen and the other to repair a tear in his aorta. Mike Zadick was released after being treated for injured ribs and shock.

Ethiopia’s Fatuma Roba will return to defend her title in the 102nd running of the Boston Marathon on April 20, race sponsors announced.

The men’s winner last year, Lameck Aguta of Kenya, was in a car crash three months after his victory and will not return this year to run in Boston.

Thomas Alsgaard of Norway won a 10-kilometer cross-country ski race at Falun, Sweden, and clinched the men’s World Cup overall title for the first time.

Alsgaard leads fellow Norwegian Bjorn Daehlie, 790 points to 618, in the overall standings. Only one meet remains, at Holmenkollen in Oslo, this weekend.

Larissa Lazutina of Russia virtually clinched the women’s overall title by winning the five-kilometer freestyle. Lazutina leads Norway’s Bente Martinsen, 673-586, in the overall standings.