He’s Going Against Tide on Extension for DuBose

Winners, losers and coin tosses:

Loser: Alabama.

Five months ago, football Coach Mike DuBose’s job was in jeopardy after he became involved with a woman and then lied about it. The university paid her $350,000 to settle her sexual-harassment suit. Today, he has a two-year contract extension.

”. . . The coach quickly regained support when the Tide went 10-2, earned the No. 5 national ranking, won the SEC title and earned the [Orange] bowl bid against No. 8 Michigan,” the Associated Press reported.

Moral of the story: There isn’t one when it comes to ‘Bama football.

Loser: Auburn.

Equal time for the intrastate Tigers. One of their former players, James Brooks, testified in an Ohio court that he was unable to qualify for a job that would enable him to meet child-support payments because he was illiterate.

When the judge asked how Brooks had attended Auburn without the ability to read or write, he said he “didn’t have to attend class. In this country, it was all about how good you are, and I was one of the best.”

Auburn President William Muse had the good sense to be embarrassed, offering to pay for Brooks’ literacy classes. But Muse didn’t explain how Brooks had completed three- fourths of the requirements for his degree.

Loser: Stanford’s academic reputation.

Cardinal defensive coordinator Kent Baer must believe his players are as dumb as Auburn’s when he talks about how little regard Wisconsin has for them.

“I don’t think they respect us at all,” he said Wednesday. “From what I’ve heard, from what people have called and told me about what’s been printed in the press in Wisconsin, no, I don’t think they respect us.”

If you know Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin’s head coach/censor, you will find it hard to believe his players would say anything that might end up on the opponent’s bulletin board. They wouldn’t say a bad word about Rasputin. Listening to them talk this week, you’d think the Cardinal defense is the second coming of the Purple People Eaters.

Winner: Wisconsin’s secondary.

Stanford announced that Troy Walters, the Biletnikoff Award winner as college football’s best receiver, will miss Saturday’s Rose Bowl game because of a dislocated right wrist.

Las Vegas oddsmakers showed their respect for him by making Wisconsin a 12-point favorite, up from 11 the day before.

“It’s unusual for an injury to a non-quarterback to affect the line by a point or more, unless it’s Deion Sanders,” said Gene Kivi, who runs the sports book at Mandalay Bay.

Predicted reaction to Walters’ injury from Wisconsin players: “It won’t make any difference at all in the game. Stanford will have somebody just as good to replace him.”

Coin toss: Dan Marino.

He’s like a pitcher who has lost his fastball and needs to learn some new pitches. If he can adjust to having a good arm instead of a great one, he can still play. I mean, who would you rather have, Marino or Jeff Garcia?

Loser: Troy Aikman.

He couldn’t have been happy to learn that his favorite coach, Norv Turner, is remaining with the Washington Redskins for at least one more season. Aikman was hoping that Dallas’ former offensive coordinator would return as the head coach if Chan Gailey is fired, which he should be if the Cowboys lose to the New York Giants on Sunday.

Turner is not a favorite of Dallas owner Jerry Jones. How could he be? Turner’s idea of a good time is to go out to dinner with his best friend, Paul Hackett, and their wives. But Jones might have hired Turner to keep Aikman in a positive frame of mind.

Winner: Turner.

This is debatable considering that he has re-upped with an owner, Daniel Snyder, who is even more meddlesome than Jones.

There are two reasons. One is that Snyder asked him. NFL head coaching jobs aren’t that easy to get, even for someone as highly regarded as Turner.

The other speaks volumes for Turner’s character. He didn’t want to relocate his son, who is an outstanding high school sophomore quarterback in Virginia.

Loser: NFL.

Two 8-8 teams in the playoffs? The league should adopt the NCAA rule disqualifying teams without winning records from the postseason.

Winner: P.J. Carlesimo.

One of his former Golden State players, Felton Spencer, said Carlesimo had a split personality--congenial off the court, a drill sergeant on it.

“Guys will tune you out after awhile, especially when it’s like that every night,” Spencer said.

It was merely a matter of when Carlesimo would be fired. If it hadn’t been for his confrontation with Latrell Sprewell, it would have been sooner. Dismissing him before now would have sent the wrong message to NBA players. Now Carlesimo can return to where he thrived before, to where he belongs--college basketball.

Coin Toss: Lamar Odom vs. Steve Francis tonight.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.