Newsmakers
Hired The U.S. Soccer Federation announced Tuesday that Tom Sermanni, who led Australia to the quarterfinals at the last two women’s World Cups, has been chosen as the new women’s coach. Sermanni replaces Pia Sundhage, who stepped down Sept. 1 after leading the U.S. women to back-to-back Olympic gold medals and their first World Cup final in 12 years. Sundhage finished with a 91-6-10 record in five years, including 23-1-1 this year. Sermanni takes over Jan. 1.
Sidelined New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire could be sidelined for two months, the second straight season he will miss significant time because of injury. Stoudemire will have left knee surgery and could be out six to eight weeks.
• The Indiana Pacers will start the season without star forward Danny Granger, who has been sidelined indefinitely with a sore left knee. The team said that its top scorer and former All-Star is seeking a second opinion from a doctor as he continues to recover from a knee injury during last spring’s Eastern Conference semifinals.
• Rachael Flatt, the 2010 U.S. figure skating champion and a 2010 Olympian, will sit out the rest of the season with a right leg injury. Flatt is a full-time sophomore at Stanford University who trains in San Jose, Calif. She was scheduled to compete in the Ice Challenge in Graz, Austria, but has withdrawn and says she also will not be back for the U.S. championships.
Jailed Former LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson is in a Louisiana jail after a judge revoked his bond in a 2011 simple battery case. The judge’s action follows Jefferson’s arrest last week on a marijuana charge. Jefferson reported to jail in East Baton Rouge Parish. A state district court judge revoked Jefferson’s bond, saying he had a “real problem with what’s going on.”
Died Former Ohio State football player Don Steinberg, who helped the Buckeyes win their first national championship in 1942, has died. He was 90. Steinberg, who lettered from 1941-43 and again in 1945, was an end in the Buckeyes’ single-wing attack. Following his graduation in 1946, Steinberg went on to become a surgeon.