Spanier convicted of Sandusky hush-up
Former Penn State President Graham Spanier was convicted Friday of hushing up child sexual abuse allegations in 2001 against Jerry Sandusky, whose arrest a decade later blew up into a major scandal for the university and led to the firing of beloved football coach Joe Paterno. The jury found Spanier guilty of one misdemeanor count of child endangerment over his handling of a complaint against the retired assistant football coach but acquitted him of conspiracy and a second child endangerment count.
Spanier, 68, showed no emotion when the verdict was read after 13 hours of deliberations. He could get up to five years in prison.
California promoted longtime college assistant Wyking Jones to head basketball coach in place of the departed Cuonzo Martin. Jones was an assistant under Martin the past two seasons and served as interim coach after Martin left to take the job at Missouri last week. Jones has also been an assistant at Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine . ... Oklahoma State promoted assistant Mike Boynton to head coach less than a week after Brad Underwood left for Illinois . ... Patrick Ewing is being considered to replace the fired John Thompson III as the new head coach of Georgetown, Yahoo reported.
The International Olympic Committee and hockey’s governing body will have to make concessions before the NHL sends the world’s best players to the Winter Games in South Korea next year, Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “As things stand today, you should assume we’re not going,” he said.
Bettman made it clear at a breakfast with Chicago business leaders that league owners don’t want to stop their season for three weeks again and put their stars at risk of injury without what they consider a tangible return.
Spain and Italy both scored early on their way to comfortable home soccer victories that extended their lead in Group G of European qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Spain defeated Israel, 4-1, in Gijon, and Italy beat Albania, 2-0, in Palermo in a match halted for nearly nine minutes after Albania fans threw f lares onto the pitch. Ireland was not able to get past 10man Wales as it was held to a scoreless draw, a result that allowed Serbia to reach the top of Group D after a 3-1 win at Georgia.
Elena Vesnina made a quick exit at the Miami Open only five days after winning the biggest title of her career at Indian Wells. Vesnina, seeded 13th, lost her opening match to wild card Ajla Tomljanovic, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Oakland is making a last-minute plea to hang on to the Raiders. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf on Friday shared details of investors’ plans for the first time for a stadium on the current Coliseum site, and vowed that she and the city are doing all they can to keep the team from moving to Las Vegas . ... The Chicago Bears continued their quarterback makeover by signing veteran Mark Sanchez, who is expected to back up Mike Glennon next season . ... The Washington Redskins agreed to terms with former Rams wide receiver Brian Quick . ... Former San Francisco 49ers lineman Clay Matthews Sr., the patriarch of a famous football family, has died at 88.