NCAA Upholds Its Penalties Against Ex-Minnesota Coach

The NCAA upheld all findings and penalties against former Minnesota men’s basketball coach Clem Haskins on Friday, barring him from coaching at the collegiate level until 2007 without special permission.

The NCAA committee on infractions ruled Oct. 24 that Haskins was “knowledgeable about and complicit” in an academic fraud scandal within the men’s program at Minnesota.

The lost appeal also means that the Minnesota men’s basketball records for the years when violations occurred while Haskins was a coach--the 1993-98 season--will be vacated.

“Their record books, their media guides can’t even make reference to those records,” NCAA spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said. “It’s as though they no longer exist.”

Haskins has denied any wrongdoing in the widespread cheating scandal that surfaced in March 1999, when team tutor Jan Gangelhoff admitted writing more than 400 papers for at least 18 players in a five-year period.

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Gary Waters, who led Kent State to two NCAA tournament appearances in the last three years, accepted the Rutgers job and signed a seven-year contract that will pay him $450,000 annually. . . . Gonzaga Coach Mark Few, who has taken his team on consecutive trips to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament, confirmed he spoke with South Carolina about its vacancy. . . . Ben Jobe, who compiled a 193-101 record during 10 years as the basketball coach at Southern, is returning after leaving in 1996. . . . Max Good, the former interim basketball coach at Nevada Las Vegas, has been hired as the head coach at Division II Bryant College of Smithfield, R.I.

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Villanova center Michael Bradley announced that he is forgoing his senior season to make himself eligible for the NBA draft. . . . Sophomore forward Damien Wilkins of North Carolina State, the son of former NBA player Gerald Wilkins, will test his draft value, but said he might return to school.

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Atlanta can keep the 2002 Final Four, the NCAA said, about two months after Georgia reduced the size of the Confederate emblem on its state flag.

Football

Free agent defensive end Keith Washington, who had a sack in the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl victory over the New York Giants, signed a contract with the Denver Broncos.

Defensive end Tyrone Rogers agreed to terms on a one-year contract with Cleveland. . . . The St. Louis Rams signed defensive tackle Ray Agnew after releasing him in February. . . . The Atlanta Falcons have re-signed restricted free agent tackle Ephraim Salaam.

Miscellany

Jeff Gordon won the pole position, the 35th of his career, for Sunday’s Virginia 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Martinsville, Va. Gordon bumped fellow short-track specialist Rusty Wallace out of the top spot with a run at 94.087 mph around the .526-mile oval. . . . Joe Ruttman won the pole position for today’s Advance Auto Parts 250 NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Series race.

Jan Siemerink and Raemon Sluiter won matches as the Netherlands, seeking its first Davis Cup semifinal berth, took a 2-0 quarterfinal lead over Germany at Hertogenbosch. Siemerink beat Nicolas Kiefer, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3, and Sluiter edged David Prinosil, 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

In other World Group quarterfinals, Brazil and Australia split their opening singles matches, Sweden leads Russia, 2-0, and France has a 2-0 lead over Switzerland.

Magui Serna of Spain beat Hungary’s Rita Kuti Kis, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in the quarterfinals of the Porto Ladies Open at Oporto, Portugal. Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain was tied with Hungary’s Petra Mandula, 2-6, 6-3, when rain washed out their match.

Baylor lifted the suspensions of baseball players Derek Brehm and Clint Bowers, who were charged with shooting, skinning and beheading a stray cat. . . . Maryland football players Marlon Moye-Moore and Andrew Smith are facing charges that they robbed, beat and threatened a man at a nightclub and have been suspended from the team.

The Stanford men’s tennis team handed top-ranked UCLA its first loss of the season in a 4-3 decision at the L.A. Tennis Center. K.J. Hippensteel won the deciding match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, over UCLA’s Marcin Matkowski.

Led by Jamie Natalie and Raj Bhavsar, who finished first and second in the all-around, Ohio State held off top-ranked Oklahoma to win its third NCAA men’s gymnastics title at Columbus, Ohio.

Michigan State goalie Ryan Miller won the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey. . . . Stanford’s Misty Hyman won the Honda Award as the NCAA’s top female swimmer.