Ex-Cal QB Taylor to coach Sac State
Sacramento State hired Utah offensive coordinator Troy Taylor as its head football coach Monday.
Athletic director Mark Orr announced the move, calling Taylor an innovative play-caller.
Taylor has been coordinator for the Utes the past two seasons, helping them win the Pac-12 South this year.
He grew up in the Sacramento area and ranks second in Cal history in career passing yards (8,126 to Jared Goff ’s 12,200).
Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year for the second time. Kelly received 16 of 58 firstplace votes. Alabama’s Nick Saban was second with 16 firstplace votes and 66 points. Central Florida’s Josh Heupel was third and Washington State’s Mike Leach finished fourth. Kelly has guided the Fighting Irish to a 12-0 season two years after finishing 4-8. He also led Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season when he won the award in 2012. Baseball: The Yankees resigned left-hander J.A. Happ to a two-year contract with a vesting option for 2021. Happ went 7-0 with a 2.69 ERA for the Yankees in the regular season after being acquired from the Blue Jays on July 26. Overall, the 36-year-old went 17-6 with a 3.65 ERA last season. Happ will be paid $17 million a year for the first two seasons and has a $17 million vesting option for the third year.
The Yankees gave CC Sabathia a $500,000 performance bonus, even though the 38-year-old left-hander was ejected from his final regular-season start six outs shy of the 155 innings specified in his contract for the payment. Sabathia hit Tampa Bay’s Jesus Sucre with a pitch to retaliate for a Rays pitcher throwing behind a Yankees hitter.
A person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press that the Houston Astros agreed to a two-year deal with free-agent outfielder Michael Brantley, 31. He has spent his 10-year career with Cleveland. Soccer: MLS adopted a playoff format for 2019 that expands the number of teams but reduces the number of games. The top seven teams in each conference will be in the playoffs with the top team in each conference getting a firstround bye. That means 14 of the league’s 24 teams will make it. Playoff rounds will be singleelimination games rather than the two-leg, home-and-home series MLS has used for conference semifinals and finals.
Liverpool-Bayern Munich and Manchester United-Paris SaintGermain are two of the more enticing matchups in the round of 16 of the Champions League, which was drawn Monday. The other games will be Lyon-Barcelona, Ajax-Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid-Juventus and RomaPorto. The first legs will be played Feb. 12, 13, 19 and 20.
Tennis: The WTA approved rule changes meant to ensure players are not penalized after they return from pregnancy or an injury that causes a long absence. The tour announced that players returning may use a special ranking for up to three years after the birth of a child. The tour also said it will ensure women at WTA tournaments “are not penalized or prohibited from wearing leggings or compression shorts without a skirt, dress or shorts over them.”