Newsmakers

Announced Kansas football coach Charlie Weis landed a pair of high-profile quarterbacks Thursday. Former top recruit Dayne Crist announced on Twitter that he would join the Jayhawks for his senior season after a checkered career at Notre Dame, shortly before news broke that BYU quarterback Jake Heaps was also transferring to Kansas.

Agreed All-Star pitcher Gio Gonzalez said the Washington Nationals agreed to acquire him in a trade from the Oakland Athletics, and the deal is nearly finished. ESPN.com first reported the swap. Oakland reportedly will receive four players in the deal, including three top prospects: righties A.J. Cole and Brad Peacock, lefty Tom Milone and catcher Derek Norris.

• Right-hander Jason Marquis agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal with the Minnesota Twins. The 33-year-old Marquis went 8-5 with a 3.95 ERA for the Nationals last season before being traded to Arizona on July 30. Marquis went 0-1 with a 9.53 ERA in three starts for Arizona.

Appealed Former major leaguer Barry Bonds is officially appealing his felony obstruction conviction. His attorneys paid $455 and filed a one-sentence notice to the federal trial court late Wednesday, saying that Bonds was asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to toss out his conviction. The case will be randomly assigned to a three-judge panel later. Bonds was sentenced Friday to 30 days of house arrest, two-years of probation and a $4,000 fine. But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston delayed imposition until the appeal is resolved. Bonds appellate attorney Dennis Riordan estimated it could take as long as 18 months for a decision. Bonds was convicted of giving an evasive answer to a grand jury investigating a Northern California-based steroids distribution ring.

Hired Pittsburgh hired Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst as its head football coach. Chryst replaces Todd Graham, who left the Panthers last week after one season to coach Arizona State. Chryst, 46, helped mold the Badgers into an offensive powerhouse since joining the program in 2005. Wisconsin is ranked fourth in the country in scoring, averaging 44.6 points.

• Akron hired Terry Bowden as its new football coach Thursday. Bowden, a onetime hot coaching commodity who spent six seasons at Auburn and the past three at Division II North Alabama, takes over a team than went 2-22 and won just one conference game the past two seasons.

• The Great Northwest Athletic Conference has a new commissioner, Dave Haglund. He has been the commissioner of the Cascade Collegiate Conference since 2007.