St. Bonaventure Fires Coach Van Breda Kolff

St. Bonaventure fired men’s basketball coach Jan van Breda Kolff and accepted the resignation of athletic director Gothard Lane on Thursday, six weeks after the team boycotted games because of an ineligible player.

The school also accepted the resignation of assistant coach Kort Wickenheiser, whose father was the school’s president.

The moves followed the release of an investigative report that described the men’s program as being in “turmoil.” The report said the school president was “preoccupied” with the success of the program, and that the coaching staff was “in constant conflict, real or perceived, with athletic department administrators.”

University interim President Rev. Dominic Monti said Van Breda Kolff was offered an opportunity to resign Wednesday but had yet to respond.

Van Breda Kolff declined to comment, saying he was waiting to hear from St. Bonaventure. “Nobody’s given me any formal notification,” he said.

Van Breda Kolff, Lane and Wickenheiser were put on administrative leave in March shortly after the Atlantic 10 Conference sanctioned the team for using center Jamil Terrell, who was declared ineligible for violating NCAA junior college transfer guidelines.

The team was stripped of six conference victories and barred from the postseason. Players voted to boycott their last two games in protest, a move that cost the school more than $120,000 in fines.

In a review of the program, officials found three NCAA violations and placed the heaviest blame on university president Robert Wickenheiser.

*

Texas point guard T.J. Ford played down the severity of his injury in a pickup game, saying he “took a spill” and was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

University officials refused to provide information about the Wooden Award winner’s injury, citing federal privacy laws. Ford issued a statement thanking those who treated him, but without revealing specifics.

Ford spent about four hours in a hospital emergency room Wednesday night after getting hurt during the game at a campus gym. Team spokesman Scott McConnell would say only that Ford’s injury was not life-threatening.

A student who saw the injury said Ford was slapped on the back of the neck during the game and fell to the floor. The student, Seth Galton, told the Austin American-Statesman the contact appeared “very minor,” even though an ambulance was called to the scene.

Galton said Ford remained motionless until medical personnel arrived. He said Ford was playing with several other Texas basketball players, as well as some football players.

*

Tod Murphy, 39, a star forward at UC Irvine from 1982 to ‘86, is returning to the Anteaters as an assistant basketball coach. He had been an assistant at UC Riverside since 2001.

Tennis

With the help of 14 aces, including two in the final game, 12th-seeded Lisa Raymond upset fifth-seeded Jelena Dokic, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2, in the third round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla.

Raymond will play third-seeded Jennifer Capriati today in the quarterfinals. Capriati overcame a 3-0 deficit in the third set to defeat 15th-seeded Paola Suarez, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.

In other matches, 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva defeated eighth-seeded Amanda Coetzer, 7-6 (2), 6-3; seventh-seeded Patty Schnyder beat ninth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; and second-seeded Lindsay Davenport easily beat Marlene Weingartner, 6-1, 6-1.

Defending champion and top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Gaston Gaudio, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters. He will face Alberto Martin, who beat Fernando Vicente, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Second-seeded Carlos Moya advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 over Tommy Robredo. Moya will face Julien Boutter, who beat ninth-seeded Sjeng Schalken, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Passings

Michel Laperriere, father of King forward Ian Laperriere, died April 11 in Montreal after a near three-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 55.

Ian Laperriere spoke often of his father, dedicating the only three-goal game of his career -- a hat trick against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 13, 2000 -- to him.

His father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer only two months earlier.