Barnett’s Stormy Stay Ends With Resignation

Gary Barnett reluctantly stepped down as football coach at Colorado on Thursday, ending a seven-year tenure that was riddled by off-the-field problems but ultimately was done in by recent bad results on the field.

Barnett, accepting a $3-million settlement, said the decision was made by Athletic Director Mike Bohn.

“In the last 24 hours, Mike has made a decision to change the football coach at the University of Colorado,” he said. “I respect that decision, I didn’t like that decision -- I didn’t resign my position -- but I wholeheartedly accept ... the decision.”

Barnett, 49-38 at Colorado, pointed to a resume that includes a Big 12 Conference championship, several Big 12 North titles and conference honors as coach of the year.

“I would deem that a success. Other people might not,” he said.

Choking up and pausing, Barnett conceded he was disappointed in the decision and that as little as three weeks ago he had been looking forward to a contract extension. Colorado, however, lost three consecutive games by a combined score of 130-22.

“It’s pretty simple. We lost,” Barnett said. “I think our team has been overly concerned about a contract extension.... We ran out of juice, the well went dry.”

The Buffaloes (7-5), 70-3 losers to Texas last weekend in the Big 12 championship game, will play Clemson in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 27. Barnett, 49-38 over seven seasons, will not coach the team in that game.

Barnett, ironically, was hired to clean up a program tarnished under Rick Neuheisel.

By the end, though, he found himself in the center of a sordid recruiting scandal, which resulted in an investigation concluding that drugs, alcohol and sex were used to entice recruits to the Boulder campus, though those practices were not sanctioned by university officials.

No charges were filed, but Barnett got into further trouble when he used derogatory terms in talking about kicker Katie Hnida, who came out with allegations that she was raped by a teammate in 2000. Barnett was suspended by the school in the spring of 2004 and had restrictions placed on his recruiting, which had since been eased.

COLLEGE SPORTS

Tulane Cuts Half Its Athletic Programs

Tulane is suspending half its athletic programs, including men’s track and field and women’s swimming, to cope with the financial damage done by Hurricane Katrina.

Men’s cross-country, women’s soccer, men’s and women’s golf, and men’s and women’s tennis also were cut, affecting about 100 athletes.

The Conference USA school will still compete in Division I-A because it received a five-year waiver of the league requirement of 16 sports, university President Scott Cowen said.

Cowen said the university would honor athletic scholarships for students who stay at Tulane, even though their programs were eliminated.

Those who transfer to continue with sports cut by Tulane will be immediately eligible to play at their new schools, said Doug Hertz, chairman of the board’s athletics committee.

WINTER SPORTS

Top-Ranked American Pulls Out of Tokyo Event

Evan Lysacek, the top-ranked American figure skater, withdrew from the Grand Prix finals in Tokyo next week because of bursitis and tendinitis of his right hip.

The injuries, which will require two weeks away from serious training, also will sideline the bronze medalist at the 2005 world championships for Sunday’s Figure Skating Challenge in Boston.

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Switzerland’s Gregor Staehli finished in 1 minute 47.51 seconds to beat American Kevin Ellis by 46-hundredths of a second in winning a skeleton World Cup race in Igls, Austria, his fourth straight victory on that track.

American Zach Lund finished third in 1:48.14.

TENNIS

Young, 16, Becomes Youngest ITF Champion

Donald Young became the youngest ITF World Junior Champion when he clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking in boys’ tennis by advancing to the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships. Second-ranked Marin Cilic of Croatia lost in the third round at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Young, of Atlanta, is 16 years 5 months old -- one month younger than Richard Gasquet of France was when he led the boys’ rankings at the end of 2002.

MISCELLANY

Higher Fire Pursues Los Alamitos Sweep

Higher Fire will try for an unprecedented sweep of the Los Alamitos Bonanza tonight in the Los Alamitos Million Futurity at Los Alamitos. The daughter of Walk Thru Fire already has won the Ed Burke and Golden State Million and, by winning tonight, would earn a $1-million bonus for sweeping the track’s three major races for 2-year-old quarter horses.

Saturday night, Catchmeinyourdreams will try for a third time to win the $500,000 Champion Of Champions, a Grade I at 440 yards, against Ocean Runaway and eight others.

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Isaac Hilton, a defensive lineman drafted seventh by the New York Giants in 2004, signed a one-year contract with the Avengers. Hilton played in NFL Europe this summer.