San Diego State HiresCraft as Head Coach

San Diego State’s wacky search for a coach ended Thursday when Palomar College Coach Tom Craft was hired only hours after withdrawing from consideration for the job.

Craft played quarterback at San Diego State from 1975-76 and was offensive coordinator from 1994-96 under Ted Tollner.

Athletic Director Rick Bay offered the job to Craft on Wednesday, but Craft issued a statement later that evening saying he wasn’t “100% excited about the commitment it would take” to do the job. He felt he needed more time to evaluate the job and didn’t want to hold up San Diego State’s search.

Craft thought more about it, and changed his mind.

He had his agent, Bruce Tollner--Ted Tollner’s son--call Bay about 11:30 p.m. Craft and Bay spoke around midnight and agreed to a deal. They spoke again about 6 a.m. Thursday to finalize things.

Bay also offered the job to Oregon offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford, but Tedford told him Thursday morning that he is a candidate for the California job, and his candidacy at San Diego State had become moot, anyway. Craft received a four-year contract at $400,000 a year.

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Alabama will cut 15 scholarships over the next three years in response to NCAA charges of rules violations. The university also said it had severed ties with three athletic boosters accused of offering money to high school players and would cut back on recruiting. The school said it will not give up a postseason bowl or televised game. The self-imposed sanctions were part of Alabama’s 750-page response to the NCAA charges of violations.

The documents showed the university acknowledged key violations--including that an athletic representative made “substantial cash payments” to a high school recruit in the mid-’90s.

The NCAA is expected to impose penalties on its own in January or February.

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Miami quarterback Ken Dorsey won the Maxwell Award and Nebraska’s Eric Crouch took the Davey O’Brien trophy during an awards show at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Other winners included Brigham Young running back Luke Staley (Doak Walker), North Carolina defensive end Julius Peppers (Chuck Bednarik), Miami tackle Bryant McKinnie (Outland), Louisiana State receiver Josh Reed (Fred Biletnikoff), Oklahoma safety Roy Williams (Jim Thorpe) and Purdue punter Travis Dorsch (Ray Guy).

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USC defensive back Antuan Simmons, who came back this season after nearly dying from surgical complications two years ago, has been invited to play in the Hula Bowl Maui, an all-star game, on Feb. 2. Three other Trojans--defensive lineman Ryan Nielsen, fullback Charlie Landrigan and kick-off specialist David Newbury--have been invited to the Paradise Bowl in St. George, Utah, on Jan. 12.

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Texas Christian (5-5) and Southern Mississippi (6-4) play tonight with the winner getting a bid to the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl in Houston.