Ohio State Taps Youngstown’s Tressel

Ohio State has a new football coach--Jim Tressel--and the Buckeyes didn’t have to travel far to find him.

Tressel, who guided Youngstown State to four NCAA Division I-AA national championships in 15 seasons, will be introduced today as the Buckeyes’ new coach.

Tressel, 48, accepted the job Wednesday, said Jack Rall, chairman of the Ohio State Athletic Council.

Athletic Director Andy Geiger called a news conference for this afternoon to introduce the new coach.

Tressel will replace John Cooper, who was fired Jan. 2. After the firing, Geiger also cited poor academic performance, on-the-field taunting and off-the-field skirmishes with the law by the Buckeye players.

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Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer agreed to a new contract worth $9.1 million over seven years. Fulmer, who guided the Volunteers to the 1998 national championship, was given a $250,000 raise, boosting his annual pay to $1.3 million, and a two-year extension through 2007. . . . Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith will sit out spring practice because of surgery on his broken left hand. Smith was able to play with the injury through most of Oregon State’s 11-1 season because he is right-handed. . . . Washington State offensive coordinator and line coach John McDonell has accepted a position as offensive line coach at Stanford.

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Ron Ponciano, fired at Cal State Northridge in July 1999 after a university investigation into NCAA rules violations, has been hired as football coach at L.A. Valley College.

Ponciano, 41, replaces Carl Ferrill, who left last season because of medical reasons. Ponciano was the defensive coordinator two seasons ago at McPherson State College in Kansas, an NAIA school, and became Ferrill’s top assistant at Valley last season.

Boxing

Mike Tyson tested positive for marijuana after his victory over Andrew Golota on Oct. 20, but Michigan boxing regulators only punished him for refusing to submit to a urine test before the fight.

Tyson did give a urine sample after the fight, and it tested positive for marijuana, a member of the state Board in Control of Athletics told the Detroit News. The Grand Rapids Press also reported the positive test.

On Tuesday, state regulators suspended Tyson’s Michigan boxing license for 90 days and fined him $5,000 for refusing to submit to a urine test before the fight at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Lou Del Valle, former World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight champion, stopped Earl Butler in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round bout at Yonkers, N.Y. Del Valle improved to 30-2 with 21 knockouts.

Miscellany

Avenger quarterback Todd Marinovich has pleaded innocent to a charge of felony possession of heroin.

Marinovich, 31, entered the plea in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He also pleaded innocent to two counts of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended or revoked license.

A preliminary hearing has been set for Feb. 14.

Marinovich was arrested by L.A. police Dec. 13. If convicted of the felony charge, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. The misdemeanor charges each carry a sentence of six months in the county jail, but often in cases such as this, the felony charge takes precedence.

Team Penske Racing will be returning to the Indianapolis 500 after a seven-year absence, Penske Racing President Tim Cindric said.

Roger Penske, the most successful owner at the classic race with 10 Indy victories, failed to qualify a driver in 1995 and hasn’t returned to Indianapolis since 1996 when the Indy Racing League series was formed to rival the CART series.

CART champion Gil de Ferran and 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack were added to the International Race of Champions series.

Their inclusion closes out the 12-driver field for the annual four-race all-star series. The selection of de Ferran and Brack, the 2000 rookie of the year who won the 500 while competing in the IRL, puts CART back in the field after a one-year absence caused by schedule conflicts.

Heike Drechsler, the two-time Olympic long jump champion, told the London Daily Telegraph she unknowingly was told to take performance-enhancing drugs as part of East Germany’s sports program.

Drechsler, 36, won her second Olympic long jump gold in Sydney, Australia. Drechsler won the world long jump title in 1983 at 18.

For years, Drechsler publicly denied taking drugs despite widespread evidence that elite athletes in East Germany were given steroids as part of a state-sponsored drug system.

All five cities wanting to hold the 2008 Summer Olympics met the deadline for submitting bids. The International Olympic Committee said it received the bids from Beijing; Istanbul, Turkey; Osaka, Japan; Paris and Toronto. The host city will be elected on July 13 at an IOC meeting in Moscow. Beijing, which lost to Sydney by two votes in the race for the 2000 Summer Games, is considered the front-runner.

Claudio Reyna, a star for the U.S. national team, might leave international soccer after the 2002 World Cup to concentrate on club play. The Glasgow Ranger midfielder has played in the last two World Cups for the United States.

Chris Klug of Aspen, Colo., who had a liver transplant in July, won a parallel giant slalom in World Cup snowboarding at Olang, Italy. Marion Posch led an Italian sweep in the women’s division.

Goaltender Mike Buzak made 37 saves to lead Long Beach to a 2-1 West Coast Hockey League victory over the Idaho Steelheads at Boise. It was only the third home loss of the season for the Steelheads.