Mumme Quits Amid Probe at Kentucky

Kentucky football Coach Hal Mumme resigned Tuesday after months of investigation into possible NCAA violations.

Mumme was replaced by Guy Morriss, an assistant coach at Kentucky with more than 15 years of NFL playing and coaching experience. Morriss was given a one-year contract, Athletic Director Larry Ivy said at a news conference in Lexington, Ky.

“I met with Coach Hal Mumme this afternoon and officially accepted his resignation as head football coach,” Ivy said.

The change was made the day before high school players are allowed to sign letters of intent with college programs.

Mumme was 20-26 in four seasons with the Wildcats. He has made no public comment since the school began an internal investigation in November regarding recruiting.

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Coach Bobby Bowden’s youngest son was hired as Florida State’s offensive coordinator after the university found a way to circumvent its nepotism policy. Jeff Bowden, who had been the Seminoles’ receiver coach since 1994, replaces Mark Richt, who was hired as coach at Georgia. . . . Iowa State and Hawaii agreed to cancel their season-opening football game Sept. 1 because the trip to Honolulu would have been too expensive for the Cyclones.

Baseball

The Dodgers are close to signing free-agent reliever Jesse Orosco to a one-year contract. The left-handed Orosco, who turns 44 on April 21, is the majors’ all-time leader in appearances with 1,096. He previously pitched for the Dodgers in 1988. . . . The Philadelphia Phillies beat first baseman Travis Lee in the first salary arbitration case of the year. Lee, who hit .235 last season with nine home runs and 54 runs batted in in 404 at-bats, will get $800,000 rather than his request for $1.6 million. . . . Right-hander Jamey Wright and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a one-year, $2.35-million contract just before the scheduled start of their salary arbitration hearing in Phoenix. Wright made $1,025,000 last season. . . . Right-hander Gil Meche of the Seattle Mariners had arthroscopic surgery on his pitching shoulder and is expected to be sidelined for at least six months. . . . Former Pittsburgh Pirate manager Chuck Tanner is nearing the end of several months of radiation treatment for prostate cancer and has been told to expect a full recovery.

Miscellany

Gary Moeller, former coach of the Detroit Lions, was hired as defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Moeller replaces Dom Capers, who left the Jaguars last month to become coach of the expansion Houston Texans. . . . The Tennessee Titans hired former Kansas City Chief coach Gunther Cunningham as linebacker coach. . . . NFL teams are not allowed to sign Mark Chmura until the former Green Bay tight end has a hearing with Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Austria won its first gold medal in the skiing world championships at St. Anton, Austria, by sweeping the women’s downhill, and Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway won his third consecutive title in the men’s combined.

Michaela Dorfmeister restored the host nation’s pride, powering down the Gertrud Gabl course in the downhill to win one of the showcase events of the championships.

The U.S. had a rough day in the combined, with Bode Miller and Casey Puckett both crashing. Miller hurt his left knee and was sent home to see a specialist in Vail, Colo.

Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden won the gold medal in the women’s individual event in the biathlon world championships at Pokljuka, Slovenia.

The International Olympic Committee, meeting in Dakar, Senegal, rejected plans by Salt Lake City organizers to use a drug-testing lab at UCLA during the 2002 Winter Games, insisting that a temporary doping control center be set up in the host city.

The IOC medical commission said there were too many risks and logistical problems involved in transporting samples and personnel between Salt Lake and Los Angeles.

Donors have given $14,800 to a trust fund for the infant son of former Carolina Panther receiver Rae Carruth, who was convicted of conspiring to murder the boy’s mother.

Chancellor Adams has developmental problems and cerebral palsy. He was delivered by emergency Caesarean section in November 1999, shortly after his mother, Cherica Adams, was shot four times. She died a month later.

Three-time Formula One driving champion Niki Lauda was named chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co.’s newly formed Premier Performance motor racing division, which includes the Jaguar Racing Formula One team.

Fueled by Tiger Woods, endorsement spending for golf has reached $400 million worldwide, according to a survey by Golf World magazine. Woods, who has a five-year, $100-million contract with Nike, will earn $56.4 million this year. . . . Phil Mickelson had to go to the emergency room because of food poisoning, days before he is to defend his title this week in the Buick Invitational at San Diego. He has withdrawn from today’s pro-am.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco overturned a $4.5-million verdict awarded Hall of Fame jockeys Laffit Pincay and Chris McCarron, ruling that the statute of limitations for their claim had run out. A jury ruled in favor of the jockeys in their 1989 suit against their investment advisor, Vincent Andrews Management Corp., for alleged breach of contract and fiduciary duties, as well as racketeering violations.

Meghann Shaughnessy defeated fifth-seeded Sandrine Testud of France, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, in the first round of the Gaz de France tennis tournament at Paris.

Vassily Jirov knocked out fellow American Alex Gonzales in less than two minutes at Almaty, Kazakhstan, to keep his IBF cruiserweight title. . . . Bektas Abubakirov, a 28-year-old former Soviet boxing champion, and wrestler Ardak Karganbayev were killed in a shootout at a nightclub in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Passings

Theodore M. O’Leary, 90, a former player at Kansas and one of the last links to basketball inventor James Naismith, died Monday. (Story, B6).