Pelluer In Nau Hunt

Former NFL linebacker Scott Pelluer is one of four finalists to replace Steve Axman as the football coach at Northern Arizona.

The others are Steve Hagen, the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at San Jose State; Lumberjacks assistant Joe Kersting; and Jerome Souers, Montana’s defensive coordinator since 1989.

NAU will name a coach within a week. Pelluer played at Washington State and was a fourth-round draft pick of Dallas in 1981.

John Bateman, 83, a football Hall of Famer, who led Rutgers to its first perfect season, has died in New London, N.H.

Bateman, who was 48-37-1 as head coach of the Scarlet Knights from 1960 to 1972, was 8-1 his first season and 9-0 the next.

Bateman was an All-American guard at Columbia his senior year, 1937. He returned to Columbia as an assistant coach after serving in the Navy during World War II.

Versatile Oklahoma State defensive back R.W. McQuarters is giving up his final year of eligibility to enter the NFL draft.

McQuarters, a two-way starter for the Cowboys, played more than 100 snaps during OSU’s loss to Purdue in the Alamo Bowl.