Neuheisel Will Fight to Remain as Coach

Lawyers for University of Washington football Coach Rick Neuheisel said Friday he will fight to save his job, and they asked school officials to meet with them today.

Athletic Director Barbara Hedges announced Thursday that she was firing Neuheisel for gambling on the last two NCAA basketball tournaments and for initially being dishonest with NCAA investigators about his involvement.

“We believe that it is time for everyone involved to take a deep breath and step back from the edge of the cliff we are poised upon,” said Jerry Crawford, one of the nation’s most experienced lawyers in dealing with the NCAA’s infractions committee.

“Rick Neuheisel loves the University of Washington. He loves his players and staff. He is ready to go back to work,” Crawford said.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether interim university president Lee Huntsman, Hedges or the university’s counsel would agree to the meeting today, which is graduation day.

Neuheisel is on suspension with pay and has until June 26 to appeal.

Hedges met Friday with the team’s assistant football coaches. However, no announcement appeared imminent on a decision to replace Neuheisel.

The situation puts a focus on Hedges, who has been the athletic director since 1991.

“I’m responsible for the program,” Hedges said. “I hired Rick Neuheisel. I’ve also hired almost every coach in the department and a great percentage of the employees. That’s my responsibility. I have to be able to defend what I’ve done, and I think I can.”

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Florida State President T.K. Wetherell reorganized the school’s athletic department, moving many responsibilities to other areas of the university to eliminate what the school’s inspector general described as a culture of isolation.

“Somehow or another, over the past few years ... the athletic department and university have separated,” Wetherell said. “That is not something that we want. We want the athletic department to be an active part of this university.”

Tennis

Andre Agassi beat Xavier Malisse, 6-3, 7-5, at Queen’s Club to reach the semifinals of the grass-court Wimbledon warmup at London.

The victory -- coupled with Lleyton Hewitt’s 6-3, 6-4 loss to Sebastian Grosjean -- means Agassi will move up one spot to No. 1 in next week’s rankings.

Fellow American Andy Roddick is up next in the semifinals. Roddick beat Taylor Dent, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Top-seeded Roger Federer beat Morocco’s Younes El Aynaoui, 7-5, 7-6 (3), to advance to the semifinals at the Gerry Weber Open at Halle, Germany.

Up next for Federer is Mikhail Youhzny, who upset third-seeded Jiri Novak, 6-4, 6-4, in this key Wimbledon tuneup.

Maria Sharapova beat top-seeded Elena Dementieva, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the DFS Classic at Birmingham, England. She will face another unseeded player, Shinobu Asagoe of Japan.

Auto Racing

Bobby Labonte won the pole, and teammate Tony Stewart took the other front-row position in qualifying at Brooklyn, Mich., for Sunday’s NASCAR race.

Stewart put up a lap of 189.464 mph for the Sirius Satellite Radio 400. But Labonte knocked the other Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet off the top spot by going 190.365.

Miscellany

Former lightweight world champion Jose Luis Castillo takes on Gustavo Corral in a 10-round welterweight bout tonight at the Arrowhead Pond.

The 2003 L.A. Watts Summer Games, a program of the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, begin today at high schools and colleges throughout the city.

UCLA hired E.J. “Doc” Kreis as strength and conditioning coach.

The Green Bay Packers agreed to terms with free-agent quarterback Akili Smith.... The Arizona Cardinals traded running back Thomas Jones to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for wide receiver Marquise Walker.