Fast Break

Baseball

Drug rules toughened

Baseball players and owners toughened their drug rules again Friday in response to outside criticism, agreeing to more frequent testing and increased – but not total – authority for the program’s outside administrator.

All players implicated in December’s Mitchell Report on performance- enhancing drugs were given amnesty as part of the agreement.

Thus, the deal eliminated 15-day suspensions assessed against Jose Guillen (pictured) and Jay Gibbons.

Baseball did not heed advice from the World Anti-Doping Agency to turn over testing to an outside agency.

Instead, the Independent Program Administrator, a position created in November 2005, will be given an initial three-year term and can be removed only if an arbitrator finds cause.

In addition, the decision over whether a player can be subjected to reasonable-cause testing will remain with management and the union, with any disagreement decided by the sport’s regular arbitrator.

Also in the deal, the sides agreed that annual tests will rise by 600 to 3,600, an average of three per player and as many as 375 off-season tests can be conducted over the next three years, up from the current limit of 60 per off-season.

College football

Cool million goes to Griz

The University of Montana announced a $1 million donation to the school’s athletics department from a Missoula-area foundation.

In recognition of the gift from the Feist Family Foundation, the new east side expansion of Washington-Grizzly Stadium will be called “Majestic Plaza.”

The 2,000-seat stadium expansion, expected to be completed in mid-August, will increase the stadium’s capacity to more than 25,000.

College basketball

Deal worth about $1M

Don Verlin, the new University of Idaho men’s coach, would receive a five-year deal worth nearly a million dollars if approved by the State Board of Education, the Idaho Statesman reported.

There are also performance and academic bonuses included that could result in more money for Verlin. He can also collect if certain attendance goals are met.