Zook to Succeed Spurrier

Florida hired New Orleans Saint defensive coordinator Ron Zook to replace Steve Spurrier, Saint Coach Jim Haslett said Tuesday night.

The Gainesville Sun also reported the hiring, and said Zook, 47, will be introduced as Florida’s head coach at a news conference today.

Foley met with Zook for about two hours Tuesday after Denver Bronco Coach Mike Shanahan turned down the job. On Monday, Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops, a former Florida defensive coordinator, also said no to the Gators.

Instead, they’ll get another former defensive coordinator. Zook held the position from 1992-93 before Spurrier demoted him to special teams coordinator and linebackers coach in 1994.

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Former Louisiana State and Vanderbilt coach Gerry DiNardo was hired by Indiana, a month after Cam Cameron joined the school’s long list of fired football coaches.

DiNardo, 49, signed a five-year contract at $225,000 a year. He had a 32-24-1 record at LSU and led the Tigers to bowl appearances from 1995-97. He was fired 10 games into the 1999 season.

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Julius Peppers, a two-sport player at North Carolina, will skip his senior season and make himself available for the NFL draft in April.

Peppers, 6 feet 6 and 285 pounds, is expected to be among the top four or five players selected in the draft.

Others making themselves available for the draft include Pittsburgh receiver Antonio Bryant, Tennessee defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, Georgia junior tight end Randy McMichael and Ohio State junior tight end Darnell Sanders

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UCLA has hired Heidrick & Struggles International Inc., an executive-search firm in Atlanta, to assist in the hiring of an athletic director to replace Pete Dalis, who is retiring in June.

UCLA Associate Athletic Director Betsy Stephenson is considered the front-runner, although three other Bruin associate athletic directors--Ken Weiner, Glenn Toth and Rick Purdy--also have expressed interest.

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USC defensive lineman Malcolm Wooldridge, suspended from the team two months ago for several reasons, will not return to school for the spring semester. He struggled with academics and recently was accused of harassing another student.... Miami’s Larry Coker and Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen were selected Division I-A co-coaches of the year by the American Football Coaches Assn ....An NCAA committee recommended that Kentucky not be charged with a lack of institutional control stemming from an investigation of its football program under former coach Hal Mumme.

Tennis

Defending champion Martina Hingis needed only 46 minutes to beat Lisa Raymond, 6-1, 6-1, in the Adidas International at Sydney, Australia. Fourth-seeded Serena Williams defeated Russia’s Anna Kournikova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. In men’s matches, Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan upset top-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-3, 6-4.

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Top-seeded Marat Safin of Russia beat American Michael Chang, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Heineken Open at Auckland, New Zealand. Third-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill of the United States lost to Spain’s Francesco Clavet, 6-0, 7-6 (3).

Miscellany

Latvia’s Sandis Prusis, one of the world’s top four-man bobsled pilots, won’t participate in the Salt Lake City Olympics after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone Dec. 9 after a training run at Park City, Utah.... Interlocking tires on a Salt Lake City highway billboard advertisement by the Discount Tire Co. look too much like the Olympic rings and are unfairly taking profits from the Games, the U.S. Olympic Committee said in a lawsuit filed in federal court Monday.... Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael, hospitalized after suffering head injuries in a spill during Saturday night’s competition at Edison Field, has been released and is recuperating at home in Havana, Fla.... Former Chicago Bear William “The Refrigerator” Perry will make his pro boxing debut Feb. 2 against Eric “Butterbean” Esch at Gulfport, Miss.... Former New York Jet quarterback Glenn Foley, 31, signed with the Arena Football League’s New Jersey Gladiators.