USC’s Dedeaux Among the Nominees for Hall

The late Rod Dedeaux of USC leads a list of coaches nominated to the new College Baseball Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas.

Dedeaux won a record 11 national titles -- including five in a row from 1970 to ’74 -- and retired in 1986 as the winningest coach in Division I history.

He coached nearly 60 future big leaguers, including Mark McGwire, Randy Johnson, Tom Seaver, Dave Kingman, Fred Lynn and Roy Smalley.

Lynn was among the players nominated. Tim Wallach of Cal State Fullerton was also nominated.

The Hall of Fame museum will be part of a new baseball stadium complex, which will be built on the campus of Texas Tech and is scheduled to open before the 2008 season.

About 1,200 mourners attended Maggie Dixon’s funeral in her childhood parish in North Hollywood on Tuesday, five days after the 28-year-old Army women’s basketball coach died following a sudden episode of irregular heartbeat.

“She made reality out of our once-intangible dreams,” Army forward Ashley Magnani told the congregation at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church. “Coach Dixon, our angel, we promise to make you proud.”

The 1999 University of San Diego graduate had been at West Point since October, inheriting a team that struggled initially but won nine of its last 11 games and earned the first NCAA tournament berth in the academy’s history.

The Black Knights lost in the first round to Tennessee.

An Alabama booster convicted of bribing a high school coach to get a top recruit for the Crimson Tide was killed in his Memphis home after a fierce, bloody struggle, police said.

Police confirmed the death of Logan Young, 65, but did not say how he was killed.

Young was free pending appeal of his 2005 conviction on money laundering and racketeering conspiracy charges in a federal case involving the recruiting of defensive lineman Albert Means.

Young was sentenced last June to six months in prison.

He was also sentenced to six months’ home confinement, then two years’ supervised release.

Former Duke guard Jeff Capel was hired as Oklahoma’s basketball coach, resigning at Virginia Commonwealth to replace Kelvin Sampson, who was hired as Indiana’s coach March 29.

Capel, 31, was 79-41 in four seasons as coach at VCU, his first job as a head coach.

He signed a two-year contract extension with the Richmond, Va., school last month, running through 2012.

Nevada Coach Mark Fox agreed to a new five-year contract, a reward for guiding the Wolf Pack to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and a 52-13 record in his two seasons leading the program.

Memphis extended the contract of football Coach Tommy West, a deal that increases his salary and runs through 2010.

TENNIS

Roddick Opens With Easy Victory in Houston

Defending champion Andy Roddick scored a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Paul Capdeville in the first round of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship at Houston. Roddick took charge in the fifth game of the second set.

After a forehand error by Roddick put the score at deuce, he hit consecutive drop shot winners to break Capdeville for a 3-2 lead.

Capdeville won only four more points.

Second-seeded James Blake, trying to rebound from two Davis Cup losses last week, couldn’t get past Antony Dupuis of France, who used a strong serve for a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-1 upset.

Blake is ranked No. 8 in the world. Dupuis is 159th.

Top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated Sybille Bammer, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round of the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, S.C. Third-seed Patty Schnyder advanced to the third round with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Meilen Tu.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko and defending champion Igor Andreev were eliminated in the first round of the Valencia Open in Spain.

Davydenko was ousted by Jan Hernych, 7-5, 7-5. Andreev lost to Marat Safin, 7-6 (6), 6-4.

MISCELLANY

Kwan Says She Plans to Continue Skating

Michelle Kwan said she is not ready to quit competitive skating. “I’m not closing any doors right now,” said Kwan, who missed the Turin Olympics because of a groin injury. “Since 2002, I’ve kind of left everything wide open.... I want to go back to school and finish up. But I think the first thing is to get healthy and feel good about my body and feel, oh, OK, I’m ready.”

Kwan made the comments during an appearance in Greenville, S.C.

Chad Norris, crew chief for Matt Kenseth’s Busch Series car, was fined $10,000 and suspended for three races because Kenseth’s car failed its post-race inspection at Texas Motor Speedway.

Kenseth, who finished fifth in Saturday’s race, was penalized 25 Busch Series points and Jack Roush was docked 25 car owner points. Kenseth’s car failed inspection because the quarter panels were too high.

Cincinnati Bengal receiver Chris Henry is scheduled to stand trial May 30 on charges of carrying a concealed firearm.

Henry was arrested in January after a police officer allegedly saw him pull a pistol on a group of revelers.

The PGA Tour event in Hartford, Conn., was brought back to life with a new title sponsor and a spot on the FedEx Cup portion of the schedule starting in 2007.

The St. Paul Travelers Championship will be played June 21-24, one week after the U.S. Open.

Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo will fight for the World Boxing Council lightweight title June 3 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The fighters have split two previous meetings.

Tina Thompson scored 28 points as the United States defeated Taiwan, 91-66, at a four nations women’s basketball tournament in Canberra, Australia.