Dixon Takes Over at Pittsburgh

Former assistant Jamie Dixon was named Pittsburgh’s basketball coach Tuesday and will retain assistant Barry Rohrssen, leaving UCLA Coach Ben Howland with two openings on his staff. Dixon was Howland’s top assistant at Pitt and Northern Arizona the last nine years, and Howland has waited to complete his Bruin staff until Pitt hired a coach.

The choice of Dixon makes it unlikely that any of the four Pitt recruits who have signed national letters of intent will attempt to back out of their commitment and attend UCLA.

Possible additions to Howland’s staff are thought to be Kerry Keating of Tennessee, Doug Wojcik of North Carolina or Marvin Menzies of San Diego State.

-- Steve Henson

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Michigan State assistant Mike Garland will succeed Rollie Massimino as men’s basketball coach at Cleveland State.... Former Western Kentucky player Darrin Horn was hired as coach of the Hilltoppers.

Tennis

The Tennis Channel, in the works for nearly 3 1/2 years, has a launch date. Actually, it has two launch dates.

The channel, based in Santa Monica, will be offered to all cable and satellite carriers during a 19-day “sneak preview” beginning April 26. Then comes the official launch on May 15.

To learn if the channel will be available in particular areas, viewers are advised to call their cable or satellite carrier or go to www.thetennischannel.com.

Jennifer Capriati beat Marie-Gairneh Mikaelian, 6-4, 7-6 (5), in the second round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla. Capriati committed 33 unforced errors and needed 1 hour 49 minutes to beat Mikaelian, the world’s 37th ranked player.

Serena Williams withdrew from next month’s German Open, wanting an extra week off before going to Europe for the French Open and Wimbledon.

Carlos Moya overcame strong wind to reach the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters, beating Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, 6-3, 6-3.

College Sports

The NCAA took another step toward approving a new $17-million fund for student-athletes, its management council signing off on the proposal Tuesday after two days of meetings in Indianapolis.

This fund, to be used for emergencies and academic opportunities, will supplement an existing special-assistance fund if approved next week by the NCAA’s board of directors. Money will be dispersed by conferences, which will also administer the guidelines. Funds, coming out of the organization’s television contracts, will be increased 13% each year.

Officials took great pains to say this was not a pay-for-play program.

“It’s totally independent of pay for play,” NCAA President Myles Brand said. “This is for student welfare and intended for that purpose only.”

Fresno State will cut four sports from its athletic program as part of a plan to get out of a seven-year operating deficit. Athletic Director Scott Johnson said the men’s soccer, indoor track and field and cross country teams, and the women’s swimming and diving teams would be discontinued.

Olympics

A former U.S. Olympic Committee director for drug control accused the committee of running an ineffective testing program that failed to punish athletes who got caught, according to documents he gave Sports Illustrated.

Dr. Wade Exum, the director from 1991-2000, turned over 30,000 pages of documents, which he claims show that athletes such as Carl Lewis and Mary Joe Fernandez tested positive but were allowed by the USOC to compete anyway.

The USOC called Exum’s accusations baseless.

Exum claimed more than 100 U.S. athletes who won 19 Olympic medals tested positive from 1988-2000, but that many of them were allowed to compete.

Many of the positive tests cited by Exum were for substances found in over-the-counter medications, results long excused by most international federations as accidental.

Athens’ long-delayed Olympic preparations received another setback when a court ordered a halt to construction of a media village.

Miscellany

Kemper Insurance has withdrawn as title sponsor of a PGA Tour event after 35 years because of economic problems. The Kemper Open will be called the Capital Open at Avenel when it is played June 5-8 on the TPC at Avenel.

Contract talks between the WNBA and its union are set to resume Thursday. The sides met for 90 minutes on Monday after the league postponed its player draft.

Passings

Leonard Tose, a former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and jet-setter who gambled away his fortune, died at 88. See story, B11.

Robert Helmick, a former president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, died of cardiac failure at Des Moines. He was 66. See story, B10.