Washington State set to hire Wulff

Eastern Washington Coach Paul Wulff will become Washington State’s new football coach, a person familiar with the process told the Associated Press late Monday.

The school has scheduled a news conference for today.

The Cougars have been looking for a successor to Bill Doba, who stepped down last month at age 67 after posting a 30-29 record in five seasons.

Washington State athletic department spokesmen did not immediately return phone calls for comment, and Wulff did not return a message left at his home Monday night.

Representatives of UCLA interim Coach DeWayne Walker were contacted about his availability for the job, and Walker had been expected to interview for it.

Wulff, 40, has made no secret that he wanted to return to coach at his alma mater, where he was an offensive lineman from 1985-89. He will take over a 5-7 team that will have eight starters back on defense and seven on offense.

Wulff, 53-40 at Eastern Washington, posted a 9-4 record this season, losing 38-25 to Appalachian State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Dec. 1.

Fired UCLA coach Karl Dorrell was spotted in the passenger seat of a convertible on the Duke campus as the Blue Devils’ search for a coach entered its third week.

Don Yee, Dorrell’s Los Angeles-based agent, declined to comment, while Athletic Director Joe Alleva did not return a telephone message left by the Associated Press.

Ted Roof was fired by Duke after a 1-11 season.

BASEBALL

Gagne, Brewers complete $10-million deal

Eric Gagne and the Milwaukee Brewers finalized a $10-million, one-year contract, giving the Brewers a potential replacement for All-Star closer Francisco Cordero.

Gagne, 31, will compete with Derrick Turnbow to replace Cordero, who left as a free agent for Cincinnati after saving 44 games last season.

Gagne, acquired by Boston from Texas at the trade deadline, was 2-2 with a 6.75 earned-run average for the Red Sox, finishing 4-2 with 16 saves and a 3.81 ERA overall.

Free-agent catcher Paul Lo Duca and the Washington Nationals agreed to a one-year contract pending a physical, according to several reports.

Lo Duca, 35, who played for the New York Mets the last two seasons, would give the Nationals a veteran to replace Brian Schneider, who was traded to the Mets. Lo Duca batted .272 with nine home runs and 54 RBIs last season.

The players’ association filed a grievance in New York to overturn the 15-day suspension given to Kansas City Royals outfielder Jose Guillen for violating baseball’s drug policy.

Guillen and Baltimore’s Jay Gibbons were suspended Thursday by Commissioner Bud Selig following media reports that they received human growth hormone after January 2005, when it was banned by baseball. Gibbons chose not to contest his penalty.

Oakland Athletics minor league catcher Raul Padron was suspended the first 50 games of next season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance under baseball’s minor league drug program.

SOCCER

Beasley sidelined four to six months

Midfielder DaMarcus Beasley will be sidelined four to six months following surgery on his right knee.

He was hurt Nov. 27 while playing for Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers in a European Champions League game.

Juan Carlos Osorio resigned as manager of the Chicago Fire, apparently to take a similar position with the New York Red Bulls.

Joining the Red Bulls would return Osorio to New York, where he was an assistant coach under Octavio Zambrano in 2000 when the club was known as the MetroStars.

Jose Mourinho, the former Chelsea manager, withdrew as a candidate to become England’s coach.

The FA fired Steve McClaren three weeks ago after England failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship.

PASSINGS

Morris, Georgia Tech Hall of Famer, 76

George Morris, who starred at linebacker during Georgia Tech’s perfect season in 1952 and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, died of an apparent heart attack in Highlands, N.C.. He was 76.