Miller won’t be back at Arizona
Arizona had stuck by men’s basketball coach Sean Miller through an NCAA infractions investigation that stretched nearly four years. When the school didn’t extend his contract beyond next season, it became clear a decision would need to be made.
The wait came to an end Wednesday when the school announced Miller was leaving after 12 seasons and associate head coach Jack Murphy would serve as interim head coach.
Miller and the Wildcats have been in the NCAA’s crosshairs since being ensnared in a 2017 FBI investigation into shady recruiting practices.
Arizona issued a self-imposed postseason ban this season and finished 17-9, 11-9 in the Pac-12.
Miller became the third Wildcats coach to reach 300 wins with the program and went 302-109 in 12 seasons. Arizona reached the Elite Eight three times, won five Pac-12 regular-season titles and three Pac-12 tournament titles under Miller.
But Arizona failed to reach the Final Four under Miller and had not won an NCAA tournament game since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2017.
USC nickel back suffers injury
Max Williams, a redshirt sophomore nickel back for USC, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Tuesday during spring practice, presumably ending his 2021 season before it begins.
The injury marked another setback for a USC secondary that was already running thin. Greg Johnson, who started at nickel back last season, is still dealing with a knee injury that will keep him out of spring. Starting cornerback Chris
Steele hasn’t been available through the first week of spring for undisclosed reasons.
LAFC set a deadline of 5 p.m. Thursday for seasonticket holders to apply for admission to the team’s April 17 MLS season opener, the first game to be played before fans at Banc of California
Stadium in more than 13 months.
Fans who opt in for the ticket distribution will be assigned seats for the season opener and the April 24 home game with the Seattle Sounders based on their membership tenure, the team said in an email sent to its more than 17,000 seasonticket holders.
Fans not selected for the first two games will have their place in the queue adjusted, increasing their chances of admission for subsequent games.
Updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health could make it possible for the Southern Section to hold playoffs for certain spring sports.
Ron Nocetti, executive director of the CIF, said he needed to clarify with the health department to make sure he understood the update correctly, but he said: “I think it opens up possibilities to sections that still have championships to look at that possibility.”
Graduate transfer center Nysier Brooks, a 7-footer who played last season at Miami, signed with Mississippi.
Nike suspended its endorsement contract with Deshaun Watson amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment against the Houston Texans quarterback.
Steve Waithe, 28, a former track and field coach at Northeastern University, was arrested and charged with using bogus social media accounts to trick female student-athletes into sending him nude photos, prosecutors said.
Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty easily won her first clay-court match in two years, cruising past Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-1 in the WTA’s Volvo Car Open at Charleston, S.C. Not all the high seeds made the transition to clay as smoothly as the top-seeded Australian. Second-seeded American Sofia Kenin fell to Lauren Davis of the United States 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Alice Headley Chandler, who founded Mill Ridge Farm and built a Hall of Fame career as a breeder of champion racing thoroughbreds, has died. She was 95.