Akron hires former Illini coach Groce

Akron has hired former Illinois coach John Groce to take over its basketball program.

Groce replaces Keith Dambrot, who surprisingly left his alma mater last week after a successful run to coach at Duquesne.

Groce is familiar with the Mid-American Conference after spending four seasons at Ohio University. He went 85-56 at the school and twice led the Bobcats to the NCAA Tournament. Ohio upset Michigan in the 2012 tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16.

Illinois fired Groce last month after five seasons. He finished with a 95-75 record, but the Fighting Illini went just 39-53 in conference play.

Akron’s program was one of the MAC’s strongest under Dambrot, who became increasingly discouraged that the league could only get one NCAA bid.

EWING: ‘IT’S GREAT TO BE BACK’ » Patrick Ewing says “it’s great to be back” at Georgetown as its basketball coach in hopes of creating a “new era,” 33 years after leading the school to a national championship as a shot-blocking center.

During an on-campus news conference Wednesday, Ewing recreated the image from when he announced he would attend Georgetown out of high school, raising a pennant with the university’s name overhead just the way he did all those decades ago.

This is Ewing’s first college coaching job and first as a head coach at any level, after 15 years as an assistant in the NBA, most recently with the Charlotte Hornets.

With the Hoyas, he replaces John Thompson III, who was fired after consecutive losing seasons. Thompson’s father, John Jr., was Ewing’s coach at Georgetown.

NFL

AMAZON TO STREAM THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL » Amazon will stream NFL Thursday Night games this season, replacing Twitter.

That means that technically, the games won’t be free to stream, but they will be carried by broadcast networks.

The games are available to members of Amazon Prime, which costs $99 per year. Prime, which comes with other perks like free videos, books and shipping, has an estimated 65 million members.

A person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it’s a one-year deal worth close to $50 million.

That would be about five times what Twitter paid for the right to stream the games last year.

Soccer

U.S. WOMEN, SOCCER FEDERATION AGREE TO CONTACT » The U.S. Soccer Federation and the World Cup champion women’s team have agreed on a labor contract, settling a dispute in which the players sought equitable wages to their male counterparts.

The financial terms and length of the multiyear deal were not disclosed.

The agreement was ratified by the players and the federation’s board Tuesday. The team had been playing under a memorandum of understanding that expired Dec. 31.

A group of players drew attention to the fight for a better contract a year ago when they filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged wage discrimination by the federation. The women maintained that players for the men’s national team earned far more than they did in many cases despite comparable work.