Arizona fires Mike Stoops

College football: Coach Mike Stoops has been fired halfway through his eighth season at Arizona.

Athletic director Greg Byrne announced Stoops’ dismissal Monday, two days after the Wildcats lost their fifth straight game, 37-27, at previously winless Oregon State.

Arizona had a brutal stretch of three consecutive games against teams that were ranked in the top 10 at the time – Oklahoma State, Stanford and Oregon. A loss at USC followed, then things bottomed out with the loss in Corvallis on Saturday.

See story, B3

Stern cancels first two weeks

NBA: Sticking to his deadline, NBA Commissioner David Stern erased the first two weeks of the season after negotiations failed to produce a new labor deal and warned that more games were in jeopardy of being cut.

“With every day that goes by, I think we need to look at further reductions in what’s left of the season,” Stern said.

The cancellations mark the NBA’s first work stoppage since the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games.

“The gap is so significant that we just can’t bridge it at this time,” Stern said.

Union president Derek Fisher agreed, emphasizing that missing any games puts the season in jeopardy.

Opening night was scheduled for Nov. 1.

Associated Press

Mitchell earns Big Sky honor

College Football: Bo Levi Mitchell’s passing performance has earned him the co-Big Sky Conference Player of the Week.

Mitchell, the EWU senior, shares the honor with Montana State quarterback Denarius McGee.

Mitchell passed for 356 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another score as visiting EWU defeated Northern Arizona 36-28 last Saturday.