Court Lets Ruling Stand Against NCAA

The NCAA, facing an order to pay $67 million in damages for restricting some assistant coaches’ salaries, lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday.

The court, without comment, let stand a ruling that said the college sports governing body’s former salary cap for some coaches was unlawful price-fixing.

Even before the Supreme Court ruling, settlement talks had begun with coaches.

The NCAA, looking at a total bill of about $80 million counting lawyer fees, has offered $44 million to the roughly 1,900 coaches, NCAA spokesman Wally Renfro said.

In the wake of the high-court decision, coaches’ attorney Dennis Cross said it now will take more than $60 million to settle the case.

“We’re not moving toward them anymore,” he said. “I’m going to make an offer that’s going to be a little more and see if [the Supreme Court decision] has changed their mind.”

The NCAA still has several post-trial motions pending. Once those motions are ruled on, the NCAA could appeal them to the 10th circuit court of appeals.

Barring a settlement, the case could drag on another year or two.

In May, a federal jury awarded $22.3 million, which was tripled to $67 million under federal antitrust law, to about 1,900 assistant coaches in various sports.

The coaches sued the NCAA in 1993, a year after it began limiting the salaries of some assistant coaches to $12,000 during the academic year and $4,000 during the summer.

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Mike Tyson is going all the way to the Nevada Supreme Court to try to keep his psychological records under wraps.

After losing another bid to keep the public from getting a glimpse inside Tyson’s mind, attorneys for the former heavyweight boxing champion said they would make an emergency appeal to the state’s highest court. Whether the court will agree to hear the matter quickly, though, is another matter. If it doesn’t, Tyson will either have to give up his challenge to the records or face losing a tentative Oct. 19 hearing before the Nevada Athletic Commission to try to regain his boxing license.

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Boxing promoter Don King’s company lost a Supreme Court appeal in an insurance fraud case that prosecutors have decided not to pursue.

Don King Productions had asked the high court to hear its argument that King’s testimony in a 1995 insurance fraud trial should not be used against the company. The high court turned down the company’s appeal without comment.

The 1995 trial ended in a hung jury. In the second trial that ended last July, King was acquitted of all charges but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on charges against his company.

Prosecutors said they will not seek a retrial of the company.

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Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings will be getting a new attorney in his case stemming from a traffic stop in Maryland in which he was charged with marijuana possession and resisting arrest. Lawyer Marcel Solomon asked to be withdrawn from the case. The reason for the change was not immediately clear. . . . Michael Jordan denied in court in Chicago that he failed to go through with making the movie “Heaven Is a Playground” because of the relatively small amount of money he would have received.

Tennis

No. 2-ranked Lindsay Davenport, in good position to end Martina Hingis’ long reign as the world’s top-ranked female tennis player, will play Mary Pierce in her first match this week in the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany.

Pierce routed Amanda Coetzer, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the Davenport match.

Todd Woodbridge defeated Jim Courier, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), in the opening round of the Shanghai Open at Shanghai, China. In other first-round action, third-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill beat China’s Yu Zhang, 6-4, 6-3, and Justin Gimbelstob defeated Holland’s Dennis van Scheppingen, 6-3, 6-2.

Names in the News

After a lengthy absence, the LPGA tour will return to Texas next year, May 20-23, with a tournament in Austin honoring Harvey Penick, the local teaching pro whose students included Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright. . . . Devon Maitozo of the United States and Nadia Zulow of Germany moved into the lead in the individual vaulting provisional standings at the World Equestrian Games in Rome.