In brief: WCC shuts door on Seattle University
Seattle University’s dreams of returning to NCAA Division I athletics won’t happen in the West Coast Conference – at least not in the immediate future.
WCC commissioner Michael Gilleran has informed Seattle U officials that conference presidents have decided against any expansion now or in the foreseeable future, all but ending the Redhawks’ hopes of rejoining the conference.
Seattle U, a member of the WCC from 1971 until 1980, was once a Division I power, with a heritage that included a number of NBA players, including Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor. Financial strain and athletic struggles led the school to drop out of Division I.
The WCC consists of private schools of similar size and mission, including Gonzaga, Portland and Saint Mary’s.
“Michael Houston, who transferred to the University of Washington last summer and then was suspended in October after being arrested, has left the Huskies football program.
“LSU women’s basketball coach Pokey Chatman, who twice took the Lady Tigers to the Final Four after taking over as head coach in 2004, announced her resignation, but will stay with the team through the upcoming NCAA tournament.
Olympics
USOC tours Chicago
A lot was left to the imagination of U.S. Olympic Committee officials who toured Chicago, assessing possible 2016 Summer Olympics venue sites.
They got a bird’s-eye view of a proposed athletes’ village, marked by orange balloons, from a high-rise hotel. The footprint of a proposed 80,000-seat stadium was marked out in a snow-covered park with the flags of the countries represented in the International Olympic Committee.
“Terry Madden will step down as leader of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, ending a seven-year stint running the country’s main line of defense against doping in sports.
Miscellany
U.S. opens with win
Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd scored to lead the United States women’s soccer team over China 2-1 in the Americans’ opener at the Algarve Cup in Silves, Portugal.
Lilly converted a penalty kick for her 118th international goal after Abby Wambach was fouled in the penalty area in the 19th minute.
“Former rugby player Anthony Mundine won the vacant World Boxing Association super-middleweight title, stopping fellow Australian Sam Soliman in the ninth round in Sydney, Australia.
“Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel tied Charlie Whittingham’s Santa Anita record for career victories when he saddled Les Grand Trois to his 869th win in the $50,800 Mister Frisky feature for 3-year-olds in Arcadia, Calif.
“Olympic medal-winning sprinters Marion Jones and Obadele Thompson were married in a small ceremony in Wilson’s Mills, N.C.
“With a publicity boost from Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst introduced a state Senate bill in Austin to require mandatory random steroid testing for Texas public school athletes.
The program wouldn’t be the first of its kind nationally, but it would be the largest.
New Jersey started a limited program last fall that tests athletes and teams that advance to the postseason. .