Honors to Smith and Goestenkors

Tubby Smith of Kentucky and Gail Goestenkors of Duke have been selected the 2003 Naismith coaches of the year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

Under Smith, Kentucky (32-4) won the Southeastern Conference championship and won 26 consecutive games before losing to Marquette, 83-69, in the Midwest Regional final.

Goestenkors led Atlantic Coast Conference champion Duke (35-1) into the women’s Final Four, where it will meet Tennessee in one semifinal Sunday at Atlanta.

She has guided Duke to four ACC titles in a row.

Former coach Lefty Driesell was given the club’s award for outstanding contribution to basketball. Driesell, who won 786 games, coached at Davidson, Maryland, James Madison and Georgia State before retiring in January from the Atlanta school.

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Penn State hired East Tennessee State Coach Ed DeChellis to turn around its program after consecutive 7-21 seasons.

DeChellis, who graduated from Penn State and is a former assistant with the Nittany Lions, will be introduced today. He replaces Jerry Dunn, who resigned last month with a record of 117-121 in eight seasons.

DeChellis had a record of 105-93 in seven seasons at East Tennessee State.

He guided the team this season to its first NCAA tournament in 11 years.

“This opportunity allows me to compete at the highest level of college basketball,” he said.

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The firing of Western New Mexico men’s coach Joe Mondragon, who was accused of using a racial slur against black players on the team, was upheld by the university’s Hearing Authority Committee.

Mondragon was fired on Jan. 25 after junior guard David Harris said the coach used a racial epithet to criticize the six black players after a loss five days earlier at Adams State.

Mondragon, 50, has denied using the term. He was in his second season at Western New Mexico.