Fast Break
College football
Leaf on leave as QB coach
Former Washington State University and NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was placed on administrative leave from West Texas A&M, where he is quarterbacks coach and men’s golf coach for the Division II school.
ESPN.com reported that a person briefed on the situation said that Leaf (above) acknowledged he had asked a player for a pill to help him deal with pain in his wrist dating to his NFL days.
Athletics director Michael McBroom said he met with Leaf on Sunday and they agreed on the leave. He would not comment on the decision and said he would not speculate on when or whether Leaf would return.
Leaf was in his third season as quarterbacks coach at West Texas A&M, which is 9-1 heading into its final regular-season game.
Olympics
Obama could help Chicago
Barack Obama’s election as president could prove crucial in another campaign – the race for the 2016 Olympics.
Obama’s victory provides a boost to the bid from Chicago – his hometown – to bring the Summer Games back to the United States for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
“It’s very important,” Chicago bid leader Patrick Ryan told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “He’s a man who the world is looking to for leadership and I think he’s very popular not only in the U.S. but around the world.”
Chicago is competing against Tokyo; Madrid, Spain; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Ryan is counting on Obama to attend a meeting in Copenhagen next year to speak on behalf of the bid.
Women’s basketball
Bowman makes Wooden list
Heather Bowman is the first Gonzaga women’s player to make the Wooden Award preseason Top 30.
The reigning West Coast Conference Player of the Year joins five AP preseason All-Americans on the list – Oklahoma senior center Courtney Paris, Maryland senior guard Kristi Toliver, Louisville senior forward Angel McCoughtry, Oklahoma State junior guard Andrea Riley and Connecticut sophomore Maya Moore.
“It’s pretty nuts to be on the list with all those players,” Bowman said. “I was pretty surprised and honored.”
The 6-foot-2 forward from Lewis and Clark High was 12th in the nation in scoring last year at 20.1 points a game and averaged 8.6 rebounds.
Since Bowman’s arrival fresh off a State 4A championship with the Tigers, the Zags have gone 49-19 – 26-2 in the WCC – and played in the NCAA and WNIT tournaments.
Bowman will miss the first few games of the season after undergoing surgery on Sunday for an infection in her elbow. She cut the elbow in practice last week.