Sports in brief: Huskies fire baseball coach

College baseball: Washington fired baseball coach Ken Knutson on Monday after 17 seasons, the last five of which ended with the Huskies in the bottom half of the Pac-10.

The university announced that the Huskies’ all-time leader in wins and second head coach since 1977 will leave June 30. That will be five weeks after Washington finished the season 25-30 overall and 13-14 in the Pac-10. The Huskies ended the season on a five-game losing streak, including being swept at rival Washington State in the final, three-game series.

The Huskies haven’t had a winning record inside the Pac-10 since 2004.

Knutson, a 1981 graduate of Washington, has spent the past 27 years as a player, assistant coach and head coach at the UW. He was 584-399-2 leading the Huskies, and 240-189 against the Pac-10. He won two conference titles and led Washington to six NCAA tournaments after replacing Bob MacDonald in 1993.

The UW is about to start privately financed renovations of Husky Ballpark.

Associated Press

O’Neill fearless about USC job

College basketball: Kevin O’Neill took over Southern California’s troubled basketball program on Monday, promising to try to win next season under the weight of an NCAA investigation and the departures of three starters and several recruits.

“There’s nothing here that says you can’t win and that’s why I like this job,” he said after being introduced by athletic director Mike Garrett at a campus news conference.

Both O’Neill and Garrett refused to answer questions about the coach’s contract at the private university.

“Hopefully, he’s here forever,” Garrett said.

The 52-year-old coach replaces Tim Floyd, who resigned suddenly on June 9 amid allegations that he paid to have O.J. Mayo play for him.

“The fact that there’s an investigation going on never changed my view of the university at all. We’re going to deal with whatever comes out of this and be positive and move forward.”

Associated Press