UTEP Hires Barbee as Basketball Coach

Tony Barbee was hired Monday as the new basketball coach at Texas El Paso.

Barbee, 35, spent the last six years as an assistant at Memphis. He will take over for Doc Sadler, who left last week to coach Nebraska.

Barbee is the first black head coach at Texas El Paso, formerly Texas Western, a school credited with helping break down the color barrier in college sports. Barbee said his first priority was continuing “a rich and winning tradition.”

He has already spoken to Don Haskins, the coach who led the 1966 Miners to the NCAA championship and made history by starting five black players in the title game against an all-white Kentucky squad.

Barbee said he was looking forward to Haskins’ continuing role in the program.

“My style is built on one thing, and it’s winning in March,” Barbee said. “Winning in March starts with defense.”

Bob Stull, Texas El Paso’s athletic director, said Barbee was selected in part because of his reputation as a top recruiter.

Barbee said he was “taken aback” by the offer to lead a Division I team. He was offered the position Sunday and immediately accepted.

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A reserve basketball player at Kansas State was dismissed from the team because his name appears in a registered sex offender database.

The decision about Tyler Hughes was made after Athletic Director Tim Weiser learned the 6-foot-11 forward was listed in the Kansas Bureau of Investigation registered sex offender database.

“After thoroughly investigating the facts as we know them, we feel it is in Tyler’s best interest, as well as the university’s, that we sever our relationship,” Weiser said.

Hughes played in 26 games last season, averaging 1.7 points.

TENNIS

Nalbandian Outlasts De Voest and the Rain in First Round

Third-seeded David Nalbandian waited out a rain delay and beat Rik De Voest, 6-0, 6-4, in the first round of the $2.45-million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters at Mason, Ohio.

Nalbandian led, 4-0, after only 17 minutes when the match was suspended because of heavy rain. The players came back an hour and a half later and warmed up, but a light rain returned. Finally, after 2 hours and 19 minutes, play resumed.

Eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis needed two tiebreakers to beat Thomas Johansson, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3).

The tournament’s top-seeded players, No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, play their first matches today.

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Fourteenth-seeded Katarina Srebotnik and 15th-seeded Maria Kirilenko were winners in the first round of the star-depleted Rogers Cup at Montreal.

Srebotnik eliminated Michaella Krajicek, 6-3, 7-5, and Kirilenko defeated Jelena Kostanic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.

French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova all withdrew before the start of play.

HORSE RACING

Barbaro Progressing Well in Recovery From Injuries

Barbaro stepped outside his ICU stall and started daily walks on a grassy area near the unit last week for the first time since suffering near catastrophic injuries in the Preakness nearly three months ago. The Kentucky Derby winner, also recovering from a severe case of laminitis in his left hoof, continues to show signs he’s on the road to recovery.

“It’s a big step just to know he feels good enough that you can take him out of the stall and walk him around like a normal horse and he eats grass like a normal horse,” Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the New Bolton Center near Philadelphia, said. “That doesn’t mean he’s healed. It just means things are going well right now.”

The 3-year-old had made only a couple of brief walks back and forth from his stall to the surgery room at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center until last week. Now Barbaro is walked daily for about 15 to 20 minutes.

The colt’s comfort level has taken a surprising turn since Richardson said in early July the prognosis for a full recovery was “poor.”

“I think we’re lucky his tissues are fairly healthy,” Richardson said. “I don’t know why he’s more comfortable than some horses with the same condition.”

SOCCER

Dynamo’s Ching Out for at Least Three Weeks

Brian Ching of Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo was expected to be sidelined for three weeks after he undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery.

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Randy Lerner, who owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, put in a $118.8-million bid to buy Aston Villa, one of the oldest clubs in England.

The board of the Birmingham-based team recommended the transaction to shareholders, and said owners of 56.85% of the shares were committed to the deal.

Lerner is expected to take over as owner within months.

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Germany and Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann says he plans to retire after the 2008 European Championship.

PRO BASKETBALL

Cavaliers Re-Sign Gooden to a Three-Year Deal

Free-agent forward Drew Gooden agreed to terms on a three-year, $23-million contract to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers, agent Bill Duffy said.

Gooden, the team’s top rebounder last season, has been a solid complementary player to All-Star forward LeBron James, who committed to a three-year contract extension with the Cavaliers in July.

The 24-year-old Gooden averaged 10.7 points and 8.4 rebounds last season.

His inside presence helped Cleveland finish 50-32 in the regular season and make the playoffs for the first time since 1998.

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Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas strained his groin during practice and won’t play for the United States at the World Championships.

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Lakers radio announcer Spero Dedes has been hired by NFL Network to work two NFL exhibition games -- Arizona vs. New England on Saturday and Houston vs. Denver Aug. 27. He’ll work with commentator Sterling Sharpe.

-- Larry Stewart

MISCELLANY

Rangers Forward Ortmeyer Has Pulmonary Embolism

New York Rangers forward Jed Ortmeyer has been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and will be sidelined indefinitely. Ortmeyer is scheduled to undergo more tests later this week, the Rangers said.

A pulmonary embolism is the sudden blockage of an artery in the lung, usually caused by one or more blood clots.

The 27-year-old right wing signed a deal last month worth just more than $550,000 for next season and was expected to resume his role as a key member of the Rangers’ checking line.

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Cal State Los Angeles hired UCLA assistant Dan Bridges as its new baseball coach.

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Two sets of brothers, Rafael and Gabriel Ruelas and Tony and Frankie Baltazar, will be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame on Saturday.