Iowa State Fires Morgan and His Staff

Iowa State fired basketball Coach Wayne Morgan and his staff Friday in the wake of a reported recruiting controversy.

Athletic Director Jamie Pollard said during a news conference that he met Thursday evening with school President Gregory Geoffroy and with Morgan.

“We informed him that we were making a change in the leadership of our men’s basketball program, effective immediately,” Pollard said.

He said the firing came after poor performance from the program, but that there were other reasons.

“The fact that we didn’t make the NCAA tournament or the NIT contributed to this decision, but I want to emphasize it clearly is not the only reason for making this decision,” he said.

Morgan’s firing came two days after a report by CBS Sportsline.com that a number of college basketball programs might have steered more than $100,000 to a California business run by Mike Miller, the coach at Los Angeles City College.

Morgan, 55, has a career record of 146-123 in nine seasons as a college coach. He spent six seasons as the head coach at Long Beach State.

PRO FOOTBALL

Redskins Trade Ramsey to Jets

The Washington Redskins traded quarterback Patrick Ramsey to the New York Jets for a sixth-round pick in the April draft.

Ramsey began last year as the starter before losing the job to Mark Brunell and asked to be traded. The Jets were looking for another quarterback to compete with Chad Pennington going into training camp.

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In other moves: Safety Lawyer Milloy signed a three-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons worth more than $6 million, including a $2.5 million signing bonus.... Former Miami Dolphin quarterback Gus Frerotte signed a three-year contract with the St. Louis Rams.... Green Bay signed former St. Louis defensive tackle Ryan Pickett and had New England kicker Adam Vinatieri in town for a visit.... New Orleans signed former Minnesota running back Michael Bennett as insurance for Deuce McAllister, who injured a knee last season.... Kansas City signed former Denver running back Quentin Griffin, giving them a backup for Larry Johnson if Priest Holmes decides to retire.... Pittsburgh re-signed cornerback Deshea Townsend, their last remaining unrestricted free agent. The Steelers also signed veteran defensive lineman Rodney Bailey.... Defensive end Kenard Lang signed a three-year contract with the Denver Broncos.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Arizona Loses Four Scholarships

Arizona will lose four scholarships for the 2006 season because of poor academics after the NCAA rejected an appeal.

The Wildcats will still have 81 football players on scholarships, all 2006 signees will keep their scholarships, and the school can sign a full allotment in 2007.

MOTOR SPORTS

It’s a Milestone Moment for Lester

Bill Lester stole the show from pole-winner Kasey Kahne at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., earning a spot in the Golden Corral 500 to become the first black driver to qualify for a race in NASCAR’s top series in nearly 20 years.

Driving a Dodge fielded by Bill Davis Racing and facing enormous pressure, the NASCAR truck series regular put up a lap of 190.502 mph early in the Nextel Cup series qualifying session on the 1.5-mile oval. He qualified 19th overall for Sunday’s race and was the fastest of 15 drivers who tried to drive their way into the race.

Kahne’s lap of 192.553 was just good enough to beat Ryan Newman’s 192.540 and end the latter’s run of Atlanta poles at six.

Rounding out the top five were Jeff Burton at 191.973, Bobby Labonte at 191.914 and rookie J.J. Yeley at 191.864.

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A spectacular four-wide pass gave Todd Bodine the lead over Mark Martin, and he picked up his first victory of the season in the John Deere 200, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

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Former NASCAR trucks champion Bobby Hamilton, 48, has a cancerous growth in his neck and will miss most if not all of the season while undergoing treatment.

SOCCER

FIFA Won’t Further Punish Warner

FIFA’s executive committee ruled against taking any further action against FIFA vice president Jack Warner after he was accused of a conflict of interest involving World Cup tickets.

Warner had owned a travel company called Simpaul in Trinidad and Tobago.

Warner acted correctly in “ensuring that Simpaul obeyed the ticketing rules and regulations and finally with him and his wife leaving the company,” soccer’s world governing body said in a statement.

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Mark Abbott was promoted to president of Major League Soccer. Abbott was the chief operating officer of MLS.

MISCELLANY

Raich, Kostelic Add to Overall Titles

Benjamin Raich and Janica Kostelic added to their World Cup overall skiing titles by winning their races in finals at Are, Sweden.

Raich won the men’s giant slalom finale, taking that season title for the second straight year, and Kostelic won the last women’s slalom of the season.

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Brett Sterling, a senior forward at Colorado College from Pasadena, is one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, honoring the nation’s top collegiate hockey player.

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Korea pitcher Myung Hwan Park has tested positive for a banned substance and is disqualified from the World Baseball Classic, Major League Baseball said.

Park pitched two shutout innings in one appearance with South Korea, striking out three and walking two.

South Korea is undefeated heading into its matchup with Japan in the WBC semifinals tonight in San Diego.