UT track coach was dismissed ‘without cause’
AUSTIN — Texas track and field coach Mario Sategna was fired “without cause” despite a record of multiple men’s and women’s Big 12 championships, according to documents released by the school Thursday.
Sategna had been under a previous ethics and misconduct investigation in 2016 but was allowed to return with no explanation of the probe or what it found. Before that investigation began, Sategna had notified Texas officials he was taking a personal leave.
Sategna was dismissed Feb. 15 in the last year of his contract. New athletic director Chris Del Conte said the program needed a “new” direction despite Sategna’s record of success. By firing Sategna without cause, Texas owed him about $220,000.
According to records released to the Associated Press, Sategna was planning a Texas bid to host the 2019 or 2020 NCAA championships. The records didn’t include any disciplinary notes.
One letter from women’s athletic director Chris Plonsky, Sategna’s supervisor, and then-men’s athletic director Mike Perrin in June 2017 said Sategna was appreciated and thanked him for his service to the school. In October 2017, Sategna earned a $20,000 bonus for his team’s good academic performance.
Sategna had been with the UT program for 15 years and he was the head coach for the last five.
Sategna took over the program in 2013 after former coach Bev Kearney was fired following revelations she had a relationship with a student-athlete a decade earlier. She has filed a race and sex discrimination lawsuit against the school that is still pending.
The school previously said its probe into Sategna in 2016 didn’t involve NCAA compliance or gender discrimination issues.
Football coach’s suit claims bias
The president of a private Baptist college in Louisiana refused to approve a football coach’s hiring because of what he called the applicant’s “Jewish blood,” a federal lawsuit claims.
Joshua Bonadona sued Louisiana College and Rick Brewer, its president, accusing them of violating his civil rights.
The 28-year-old graduate of Louisiana College said he applied for a job as defensive backs coach at his alma mater and was interviewed last May by Brewer and Justin Charles, the Pineville, La., school’s head football coach. The head coach later told Bonadona that he had recommended him for the job, but the college didn’t approve his hiring because of his “Jewish descent,” the suit alleges.
“Mr. Bonadona asked Justin Charles what that meant, and Justin Charles stated that Dr. Brewer refused to approve Mr. Bonadona’s hiring because of what Dr. Brewer called Mr. Bonadona’s ‘Jewish blood,’ ” the suit said.
During the job interview in May, Brewer asked Bonadona about his parents’ religious affiliations, the suit said. Bonadona told him his father was Catholic and his mother was Jewish.
“During the interview, Mr. Bonadona repeatedly made it clear that he was a practicing member of the Christian faith,” the suit said. In other college news: • Alabama football coach Nick Saban promoted Mike Locksley to offensive coordinator and Josh Tupoi to defensive coordinator and hired two new assistants. Saban announced the promotions along with the hiring of Dan Enos as quarterbacks coach and Craig Kuligowski as defensive line coach. Both will also be associate head coaches. Locksley and Tupoi had been co-coordinators for the defending national champions.
Noren, Simpson share Honda lead
Alex Noren and Webb Simpson each shot 4-under-par 66 and lead the Honda Classic on a day so tough for scoring that Tiger Woods had his best day in his return and didn’t break par.
Woods had only one bad hole — a double bogey on the par-5 No. 3 — and was four shots behind.
Only 20 players managed to break par at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
PGA champion Justin Thomas and Louis Oosthuizen were among those at 67.
Jury finds USTA mostly to blame
The United States Tennis Association was found mostly liable for when Canadian player Eugenie Bouchard slipped on a wet locker room floor at the 2015 U.S. Open and hit her head, suffering what she said was a “serious head injury” that changed the course of her career.
A jury found Bouchard was partially at fault for what happened. It determined the USTA was 75 percent to blame and Bouchard was 25 percent to blame. What that means will be decided in another phase of the trial to determine damages, starting Friday.
Bouchard, once ranked No. 5 in the world and a Wimbledon finalist in 2014, testified that it was the USTA’s negligence that led to her slip and fall and the resulting injuries. She said she was forced to withdraw from the U.S. Open, where she was still in contention in singles and doubles, and from subsequent tournaments in China and Japan.
Bouchard, now ranked No. 116, said she has not been the same player since she fell in the locker room.
Kicker Vinatieri re-ups with Colts
Placekicker Adam Vinatieri signed a one-year contract extension with the Indianapolis Colts. Vinatieri, 45, has 2,487 points and needs 58 to pass Morten Andersen for the NFL career scoring lead . ... Brittany Force was cleared to return to racing less than two weeks after a harrowing crash in the NHRA season opener and plans to compete this weekend at the Arizona Nationals in Chandler. Force got back in the dragster for the first time since a jarring wreck at the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., on Feb. 11. She plans to make her first pass during qualifying runs Friday.