Woman Tied to O’Brien’s Dismissal Reports Threats

The woman whose lawsuit led to the firing of Ohio State basketball coach Jim O’Brien received threatening phone calls, and her tires were slashed, her lawyer said Tuesday.

“This entire ordeal has been a tremendous strain upon her,” attorney Jeffrey Lucas said.

Kathleen Salyers sued two Ohio State boosters last year, testifying in an April deposition that she never received the $1,000 per month plus expenses she had been promised for housing Boban Savovic, a player on the Buckeyes’ Final Four team in 1998-99.

Ohio State fired O’Brien on June 8 after he admitted he gave $6,000 in 1999 to Aleksandar Radojevic, a recruit who never attended Ohio State because he was ruled ineligible after the NCAA learned he had been paid to play in Europe.

Ohio State Athletic Director Andy Geiger learned of the payment to Radojevic because it was mentioned in Salyers’ statement in her lawsuit.

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Suspended Cincinnati basketball Coach Bob Huggins was ordered to attend an alcohol education course after pleading no contest to a drunk-driving charge. Huggins was ordered to pay a $350 fine plus court costs and attend the three-day state-certified intervention program by Magistrate John Holschuh Jr. of Fairfax Mayor’s Court.

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University of Texas 7-foot freshman LaMarcus Aldridge withdrew from the NBA draft, two days before the deadline.

Auburn forward Marco Killingsworth also withdrew but will transfer to another school.

Tennis

Defending champion Greg Rusedski and top-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan won first-round matches at the Nottingham Open grass-court tournament in England.

Rusedski saved a match point in the second set and beat Karol Kucera, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, and Srichaphan defeated Gilles Elseneer, 6-3, 7-5.

French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria picked up his first win on grass this season, beating Karol Beck, 6-3, 6-3, in the Ordina Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands.

In other matches, No. 2 Rainer Schuettler lost to Raemon Sluiter, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, and No. 3 Sjeng Schalken, the two-time defending champion, was defeated by Mario Ancic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Former Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic struggled again, losing to Tina Pisnik, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament in England.

Mark Philippoussis, David Nalbandian, Xavier Malisse, Srichaphan and Schalken are the latest to commit to play in the Mercedes-Benz Cup on July 12-18 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA.

College Football

Most serious head injuries in college football are never reported to team trainers or coaches, because the players don’t think their symptoms are severe enough to indicate a concussion, according to an Indiana State University study.

That lack of knowledge could be putting athletes at risk for more severe injury, or even death, researchers say.

“When your head is messed up, you may not know it yourself,” said JoEllen Sefton, a doctoral fellow in sports medicine who surveyed 457 players, 38 coaches and eight trainers from eight NCAA Division I-A, I-AA and II colleges.

Coaches, players, athletic administrators and medical personnel have long known the risks of injury to the brain. But Sefton’s 2002 survey, to be presented Saturday at the National Athletic Trainers Assn. meeting in Baltimore, indicates that nearly three of every four concussions go unreported.

Miscellany

Marv Albert, the voice of the New York Knicks for four decades, is leaving the Madison Square Garden Network, the cable television group said. Albert, 63, also does NBA play by play on the TNT cable network.

Dave Blaney will replace rookie Johnny Sauter in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 30 in NASCAR’s top series. Blaney finished 29th at Sunday’s Nextel Cup Pocono 500 while filling in for Sauter, who raced in Saturday night’s Busch series event in Nashville.