North Carolina Up Next for O’Cain

Mike O’Cain, fired last month after seven years as North Carolina State’s coach, was hired Tuesday at rival North Carolina as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

O’Cain, 41-40 in seven years at North Carolina State but 0-7 during that time against the Tar Heels, was fired Nov. 24 after going 6-6 this season. North Carolina State has yet to hire a successor.

“We’re thrilled to be able to add a coach and person the caliber of Mike O’Cain to the North Carolina football program,” Coach Carl Torbush said.

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Georgia Tech wide receiver Kelly Campbell, arrested last week on a misdemeanor drug charge, will be allowed to play in the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl, Coach George O’Leary said.

O’Leary said Campbell had taken a drug test and was cleared to play in the New Year’s Day game against No. 23 Miami.

O’Leary did not comment on the results of the drug test, but Campbell said he passed it.

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Cal State Northridge interim Coach Jeff Kearin had the “interim” removed from his title, signing a four-year contract.

Kearin, who will receive $90,000 a year, guided the Matadors to a 5-6 overall record and 4-4 mark in the Big Sky Conference this season.

He became the interim coach last July after Ron Ponciano was fired in the wake of allegations that NCAA rules were violated in the school’s football program.

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Along with everything he’s done to help turn around Texas Christian’s program, Coach Dennis Franchione has proved to be a man of his word. He first came through last season, fulfilling a promise to his players to dye his hair blond if the Horned Frogs went to a bowl game.

This year, he promised to get a tattoo if they won their conference--and that’s the first thing Franchione did when TCU arrived for the inaugural Mobile Alabama Bowl.

There’s no telling what he’ll do if TCU (7-4) beats No. 20 East Carolina (9-2) tonight.

“They did their part, so I had to live up to my end of the deal,” said Franchione, whose Horned Frogs won a share of the Western Athletic Conference title.

Franchione got a tattoo in Mobile. He wouldn’t say what it was, or if it was permanent, only revealing that it was on his right arm.

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Former Northwestern cornerback Dwight Brown pleaded guilty to lying when he told a federal grand jury he had never placed bets with a campus bookie.

Brown, 26, of Holland, Mich., also acknowledged lying when he told the grand jury investigating gambling by student athletes at the Big Ten school that he knew nothing about betting on the part of a roommate.

The plea came as federal prosecutors said they could soon wrap up a lengthy investigation of gambling that has snared former Northwestern football and basketball players.

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An initial investigation indicates a plane on its way to pick up South Carolina Coach Lou Holtz was set to land when it crashed, killing the pilot, a federal investigator said.

The landing gear was down when the plane “broke out of the weather” at about 900 feet in a misty rain Sunday night, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Corky Smith said.

The crash killed pilot Dewey “Sonny” Foster, 65, and injured co-pilot Joe Baier, 77.

There was no sign the twin-engine King Air turboprop collided with anything or clipped trees as it came down into a marsh, Smith said. Investigators still were trying to recover the wreckage Tuesday.

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American Football Coach magazine named Hawaii’s June Jones its Division I-A coach of the year for leading the Rainbow Warriors’ turnaround from 0-12 last season to 8-4 this season.