Sports in brief: Rodriguez wants WV to open books

Rich Rodriguez said opening the books of West Virginia’s private fundraising arm is the only way to determine whether his abrupt resignation as football coach harmed the school financially.

That was a key demand in the formal response that Rodriguez filed Friday to WVU’s lawsuit over the $4 million buyout clause in his contract. He also said it was the administration’s actions – not a better offer – that forced him to resign in December and take the coaching job at Michigan.

Largely, Rodriguez’s answer to the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg restated many of the arguments his camp has made since Dec. 18, when his resignation sparked a feud with the school. His lawyers have ratcheted up the stakes by drawing the WVU Foundation into the matter.

The foundation is not legally obligated to open its books to public scrutiny under ordinary circumstances. The foundation is a key part of keeping the WVU football program self-sufficient. According to its annual report, the foundation ended fiscal 2007 with total assets of more than $1 billion, a 24 percent increase over the previous year.

“South Carolina’s Board of Trustees approved a tax-deferred retirement package for Steve Spurrier’s contract that would pay the football coach $1 million if he remained with the Gamecocks the next four seasons.

College Basketball

One UConn guard back

Connecticut guard Doug Wiggins has been reinstated to the team, while starting guard Jerome Dyson remains suspended indefinitely, coach Jim Calhoun said.

The 20-year-old sophomores were suspended on Jan. 24, the day after campus police in Storrs, Conn., say they found them in a car in a parking lot with a bottle of vodka and a bottle of cognac. Both were cited for possession of alcohol by a minor.

“Missouri guard Jason Horton was arrested on assault charges connected to a weekend brawl in Columbia, Mo., that left his teammate with a broken jaw.

The 21-year-old Horton faces a charge of third-degree misdemeanor assault on an unidentified 26-year-old man in an early-morning fight at the Athena nightclub.

The Jan. 27 incident left senior Stefhon Hannah, the Tigers’ leading scorer the past two seasons, with a broken jaw. Horton has been suspended indefinitely.

“Bucknell coach Pat Flannery was hospitalized and undergoing medical tests, two days after leaving the bench during a game. Flannery’s symptoms were not made public.

Miscellany

Tennis fights betting

French Open organizers filed suit in a bid to ban online gambling companies from offering bets on the Grand Slam tournament.

The complaint claims that Internet betting companies stain the reputation of the clay-court championship.

“The International Skating Union said scores were calculated correctly in the men’s event at last week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Paul, Minn. Evan Lysacek and three-time winner Johnny Weir finished with the same overall score – 244.77 – but Lysacek won because he had the higher free skate score.