Minnesota Discussing Buyout With Embattled Haskins

The University of Minnesota is negotiating a contract buyout with basketball Coach Clem Haskins amid allegations of academic fraud involving the program.

Talks with Haskins’ lawyer, Ronald Zamansky, began last week and the matter became public during a regents’ meeting Thursday. Regent Robert Bergland said regents didn’t object to negotiations to buy out Haskins’ contract.

University President Mark Yudof authorized university general counsel Mark Rotenberg to begin negotiations with Haskins, even though an investigation into the scandal won’t be completed until September.

McKinley Boston, vice president of athletic and student affairs, signed Haskins’ 10-year contract in 1994 when he was the men’s athletic director. It includes an unusual clause that allows Haskins to receive $423,000 in deferred compensation even if his contract is terminated with just cause. If just cause could not be shown, Haskins would be entitled to almost $1.2 million, plus benefits.

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Indiana basketball Coach Bob Knight, who was convicted of assaulting a policeman in Puerto Rico 20 years ago, could be charged with battery in Bloomington, Ind., for allegedly choking a man who accused him of making a racist remark.

Monroe County prosecutor Carl Salzmann said he had not decided whether to file charges against Knight or possibly against the other man, Chris Foster, 38, a Bloomington guitar-maker, for provoking the confrontation.

Tennis

Pete Sampras was assured of returning to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings after a 7-5, 6-3 victory over qualifier Wayne Arthurs of Australia in the third round of the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament at London.

Sampras will be on top for the 268th week when the rankings come out Monday. That will tie him for second place in the all-time rankings with Jimmy Connors. Ivan Lendl holds the record of 270 weeks at No. 1.

Top-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, a semifinalist at the French Open last week, defeated Stefan Koubek, 6-2, 6-3, in a rain-delayed second-round match of the Merano Open in Italy. . . . Second-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain beat David Prinosil, 6-4, 6-4, and reached reach the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open at Halle, Germany. . . . Top-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, runner-up at Wimbledon last year, reached the quarterfinals of the DFS Classic with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over South African Mariaan De Swardt at Birmingham, England.

Boxing

Sports Illustrated was ordered to pay $8.5 million to former heavyweight boxer Randall “Tex” Cobb in a libel suit over a 1993 article that said Cobb fixed a fight with another boxer and shared cocaine with the loser.

A federal jury in Nashville awarded the compensatory damages Wednesday. It will return today to hear evidence on how much he should get in punitive damages.

Cobb, 46, had asked for $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages.

He declined to comment.

Felix Trinidad wants more influence in the selection of judges for his welterweight unification fight against Oscar De La Hoya in Las Vegas.

Trinidad and his managers also said they want to set aside 3,000 of the 12,000 tickets for the championship fight Sept. 18 so fellow Puerto Ricans can help eliminate any “hometown” advantage.

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, on probation after his recent release from prison in Maryland, has been granted permission to train in Arizona for a bout in Nevada, possibly in August.

Jose Navarro of Los Angeles moved a step closer to a berth in the 2000 Olympics by springing the first major upset of the U.S. Challenge tournament at Colorado Springs. Navarro, seeded fourth at 112 pounds, outpunched top-ranked Roberto Benitez of New York in the semifinals.

Miscellany

Richie Williams had a goal and an assist as D.C. United beat the Miami Fusion, 3-1, in Major League Soccer, extending its winning streak to six before a crowd of 12,136 in Washington.

Olympic organizers are adding seven events, mostly for women, that are expected to pay for themselves in the 2002 Winter Games at Salt Lake City.

The United States could win more Olympic medals with the addition of women’s bobsled and men’s skeleton, a headfirst version of luge.

Women would get their own skeleton competition under the games’ expansion approved by the SLOC management committee, which also added cross-country ski sprints and 1,500-meter speedskating for men and women.

Mark Dismore recovered from an afternoon crash to win the pole at 215.272 mph for the Longhorn 500 IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. . . . Jay Sauter recorded the fastest lap in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history (179.718 mph) to win the pole for the Pronto Auto Parts 400 race at Texas Motor Speedway. . . . Kip McCord, crew chief for Casey Atwood, was fined $2,500 by NASCAR for using altered fuel during the MNBA Platinum 200 last weekend at Dover Downs in Delaware.

David Esquer, an assistant at Pepperdine for the last three seasons, was named baseball coach at California. . . . Marion Jones won the women’s 200 meters in 21.91 seconds, crushing the field in a Grand Prix track meet at Helsinki. . . . Defensive end Chris Doleman officially retired from the San Francisco 49ers, finishing with 142 1/2 sacks, fourth in NFL history.