Sports: College basketball coaches on move

College basketball coaches on move

By Compiled from Times wires

Bill Carmody pulled an all-nighter, fired up the VCR and let his early morning viewing help him make one of the biggest decisions of his life.

After 18 years at Princeton, the last four as head coach, it was time to leave and take on one of college basketball's biggest challenges at Northwestern.

"I came out Saturday night for about five hours, took a flight back to New Jersey and got back about 1 in the morning. I took about four game tapes with me and I looked at the team from 2 till 5:30 in the morning," Carmody said Wednesday when he was introduced as Northwestern's new coach.

"What I saw was a bunch of hard-working guys who I thought were overmatched physically," he said.

"But they were trying to do what their coach was trying to have them do. Right there I sort of knew they were the type of guys who will listen and get better. That sort of made my decision right there. I knew we had good kids and that's important."

Northwestern was 5-25 last season, didn't win a game in the Big Ten and now must adjust to a new coach after the abrupt resignation of Kevin O'Neill, who left last week to become an assistant with the NBA's New York Knicks.

To replace Carmody, Princeton hired John Thompson III, the son of the Hall of Famer who built Georgetown into a national power.

This will be the first head-coaching job for the 34-year-old Thompson, an assistant the past five seasons at Princeton -- the first under Pete Carril and the last four under Carmody.

"He's got a challenge," John Thompson said during his sports radio talk program in Washington. "I'm proud as a father."

MORE BASKETBALL: Jacksonville coach Hugh Durham named Bobby Kennen an assistant coach. Kennen replaces Clayton Bates, who left after three seasons for Western Michigan. Kennen was an assistant at Wichita State last season. ... Michigan sophomore guard Kevin Gaines has been charged with drunken driving, a day after being kicked off the team for violating rules. Gaines, 19, was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol and disorderly intoxication. Police saw Gaines wrestling early Monday with freshmen Bernard Robinson Jr. and Avery Queen beside a parked car on a highway. Robinson and Queen will be placed on team probation. ... Arizona senior forward Justin Wessel has been placed on probation after being arrested for drunken driving. Wessel's blood-alcohol level was first measured at 0.075 and rose to 0.084 after a later test, police said. The level was under the legal indication of intoxication of 0.10, but a driver in Arizona may be arrested if he appears to be under the influence or impaired. ... Nebraska senior guard Danny Walker has been dismissed for violating team rules. Also, the NCAA Student-Athlete Reinstate Committee has cleared sophomore guards Cary Cochran and Rodney Fields to play this season. FOOTBALL: A 17-year-old at a suburban Richmond, Va., high school died of heat stroke after becoming ill during practice. Anthony Craig Lobrano, an all-state player who was regarded as one of the top 100 high school linemen, died Tuesday at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, a day after collapsing during Varina High School practice. A state medical examiner said the cause of death was hypothermia, an abnormally high body temperature commonly called heat stroke. Lobrano, 6 feet 4 and 305 pounds, collapsed less than 30 minutes after practice began. The temperature at the time was about 77 degrees.

HOCKEY: University of Maine coach Shawn Walsh is feeling fine and back at work after the first of two 20-day cancer treatments in Los Angeles. Walsh, diagnosed with kidney cancer in June, said he felt a little queasy but much better than a couple of days earlier. He met Monday with new members of the team. "It was one of the most rewarding speeches I have ever given because it felt so good to be talking to a team again," he said.

COLLEGES: U.S. Olympic swimming team members Kristy Kowal and Gabrielle Rose and Canadian basketball player Carolin Bouchard are among the 10 finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year. The other finalists are: Phylesha Whaley, basketball, Oklahoma; Jayne Even, basketball, North Dakota State; Alia Fischer, basketball, Washington (Mo.); Amanda Colby, volleyball, Bates College; Jessica Daily, track and field and cross country, Arkansas; Emily Haley, track and field and cross country, St. Thomas, Minn.; and Anna Hallbergson, tennis, Barry University. ... Birmingham-Southern will join the Big South Conference in the fall of 2003 as it makes the move from NAIA to Division I.

TRACK: An official struck with a competition hammer died of massive head injuries Tuesday in London. Women hammer throwers competing in a national under-20 championships at Bedford Athletic Stadium were warming up Aug. 26 when a hammer -- which fell slightly outside the 40-degree arc of the field -- struck official Norman Stang.

BASEBALL: Players representing the St. Petersburg Pelicans and Tampa Black Smokers of the old Florida State Negro Baseball League will play an exhibition all-star game 10 a.m. Saturday at Tropicana Field. Admission is free.

BOWLING: Parker Bohn III, the tour's reigning player of the year, was elected to the PBA Hall of Fame. Bohn, eighth on the career victory list with 23, was the only nominee to receive the necessary 75 percent of the votes. The 37-year-old from Jackson, N.J., was inducted in his first year on the ballot. Also considered, but not elected, were Del Ballard Jr., Bryan Goebel and Randy Pedersen.