Newsmakers

Hired Valparaiso assistant basketball coach Matt Lottich was named Thursday to succeed Bryce Drew, who accepted the head coaching job at Vanderbilt.

Lottich, a Crusaders assistant the past three seasons, becomes the first basketball coach at Valparaiso since 1988 without the last name Drew. Homer Drew coached the Crusaders for 14 seasons before retiring in 2002 and being replaced by his son, Scott.

Scott Drew coached Valparaiso for one season before he was hired by Baylor, and Homer Drew returned and coached until retiring a second time and was succeeded by Bryce Drew in 2011.

Lottich played at Stanford. As a senior in 2004, he helped lead the Cardinal to the Pac-10 title. He was the head scout for the National Collegiate Scouting Association before becoming an assistant at Valparaiso.

Former NBA player and Texas Longhorns standout Travis Mays has been named SMU’s women’s basketball coach.

SMU will introduce Mays during a news conference Friday. Mays spent the past four seasons as associate head coach for the Texas women.

The 47-year-old Mays replaces Rhonda Rompola, who retired after being part of 35 of the program’s 40 seasons, the last 25 as head coach. Rompola led the Mustangs to seven NCAA Tournaments, but the last was 2008 when the Mustangs had a program-record 24 wins.

Mays was a two-time Southwest Conference Player of the Year at Texas, then played three NBA seasons. He spent two seasons coaching in the WNBA before first coaching at Texas from 2004-07, then at LSU for Van Chancellor before going back to Texas.

Resigned Swimming coach Laszlo Kiss, who coached the Hungarian team for 23 years, resigned after it was revealed he was one of three men convicted in a decades-old rape case.

Kiss said in a statement sent to The Associated Press he was leaving in the interests of Hungarian sports and because his health was shaken by the disclosure of his conviction.

Kiss coached the women’s team since 1993 and the men since 1999. He also trained five-time Olympic champion Krisztina Egerszegi and other top swimmers like Agnes Kovacs and Karoly Guttler.

Kiss, 21 years old at the time, and two other swimmers were convicted of raping a young woman they met at the National Sports Swimming Center in July 1961.

Kiss professed his innocence, saying his conviction in February 1962 came at a show trial based on trumped-up charges. He said he was gathering documents from the archives and would seek to reopen the case in court.

A University of California, Berkeley assistant basketball coach has resigned after sexual harassment allegations, dropping the appeal of the school’s attempt to fire him.

Yann Hufnagel resigned a day before the results of his review were to be released.

The school gave Hufnagel a termination notice last month after a female journalist covering the team said he made many unwelcome advances toward her.

His attorney, Mary McNamara, said in a statement Thursday that the “toxic environment at UC Berkeley” has made it impossible for Hufnagel to rejoin the basketball team he loves.

The allegations against Hufnagel were among many recent high-profile sexual harassment cases at UC Berkeley that have raised questions over top officials’ handling of them. Other cases involved a renowned astronomy professor, a vice chancellor and the law school dean.

Declared Maryland forward Robert Carter Jr. will skip his senior season to enter the NBA draft.

The school said he intends to sign with an agent.

Carter played one season with the Terrapins after transferring from Georgia Tech. He averaged 12.3 points, shot 55 percent and led the Terrapins with 6.9 rebounds a game.

Carter said in a statement that Maryland will always be a “special place” and he will “forever be a Terp.”

The 6-foot-8, 245-pounder sat out last season because of transfer rules. He finishes his college career with an average of 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds a game. Coach Mark Turgeon says Carter “worked extremely hard to improve his conditioning and expand his overall game” and was a “very productive player.”

Maryland finished 27-9 this season, reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time in 13 years.

Hawaii junior guard Aaron Valdes said he is giving up his final year of eligibility to turn professional.

Valdes, from Whittier, California, averaged 14.1 points and 5.5 rebounds last season. He was selected the Big West Conference Tournament’s MVP after averaging 17.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in the Rainbow Warriors’ three victories.

Valdes is the second underclassman to leave the program, following junior forward Stefan Jankovic.

Tackled A former Baylor football player-turned-attorney knocked down a suspect attempting to flee from a Texas courtroom earlier this week.

Jeff Fletcher, who was a punter and defensive back for the Bears from 1979 to 1982, was in court Wednesday observing procedures. Fletcher says he intervened when the defendant in a drug case appeared to object to a judge’s order that he undergo a urine test and tried to run.

Fletcher said Thursday that instinct took over as he lowered his shoulder and knocked the suspect down. The Texarkana Gazette report the defendant remains in custody facing additional charges of assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest.

Fletcher says he’s glad nobody got hurt and that he wasn’t sore a day after the incident.

Settled Nebraska will pay former women’s basketball coach Connie Yori nearly $1.2 million under terms of her separation agreement released by the university.

Yori stepped down on Tuesday following an in-house investigation into alleged mistreatment of players. Yori has denied any wrongdoing.

Yori earned $732,913 a year under her contract, which last June was renewed through June 2020.

Yori’s abrupt departure ended her 14 years at Nebraska. Yori said in a statement Tuesday that she was leaving for personal reasons. She and husband Kirk Helms are going through a divorce and child custody battle.

The Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World-Herald reported that the university had investigated Yori’s treatment of players after concerns of bullying and disregard for players’ well-being were raised in February by several current players and some support staff members.

Three male students who worked with the team this past season as practice players told The Associated Press that they never witnessed abusive behavior by Yori.

Yori was the consensus national coach of the year in 2010 after Nebraska went 32-2 after a 30-game winning streak and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. She was also the Big Ten Conference coach of the year in 2013 and 2014.

Charged Former International Boxing Federation lightweight champ Paul Spadafora has been charged with assault after authorities say he put a 63-year-old woman in a semi-headlock at a bar, drank some of her beer and then threw her to the ground when she went outside to call police.

Spadafora, who was raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKees Rocks, calls himself The Pittsburgh Kid. He won the vacant IBF belt in August 1999 and suffered his only professional loss just two and a half years ago after struggling to mount a comeback since serving time in jail.

Witnesses told police that Spadafora, 40, appeared to be intoxicated when he arrived at the Redstone Tavern in Crafton, just west of Pittsburgh, on Wednesday.

He started baiting other patrons, including the woman, challenging them to box before grabbing her in a semi-headlock while he drank from her beer, police said. When she went outside to call 911, Spadafora followed and threw her to the ground, leaving before police arrived, Chief Mark Sumpter said.