Fired Coach Tries to Justify Loan

Jim O’Brien, fired Ohio State basketball coach, testified Monday that he lent $6,000 to a recruit because he knew the player had competed professionally and would never join the Buckeyes.

O’Brien spoke in Columbus, Ohio, during the opening day of the trial in his wrongful-firing lawsuit against Ohio State, which asserts that he knew he was violating NCAA rules by keeping the loan secret for more than five years.

O’Brien, who had been the Buckeyes’ coach for seven years, was fired June 8, 2004. Then-athletic director Andy Geiger said O’Brien was dismissed after the coach acknowledged having given $6,700 in 1999 to 7-foot-3 Aleksandar Radojevic.

O’Brien described the amount as $6,000 of his own cash that he kept in a locked desk drawer. He said he already had learned in a letter that Radojevic had played for a pro team in his native Serbia, and the player confirmed it for him.

“He had lost his amateur status,” O’Brien said. “Unless something was going to change, he was not going to play for an NCAA institution.”

University attorneys said it was still a violation because Radojevic had not been disqualified officially. O’Brien is suing in the Ohio Court of Claims for $3.5 million in back pay and benefits, which could grow by millions if interest and other damages are awarded. O’Brien previously has said he lent Radojevic his own money because the player’s father was dying and the family had no money for medicine or the funeral.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Ivy League Gets First Black Coach

Norries Wilson became the first black head football coach in Ivy League history, taking over a Columbia program that hasn’t had a winning season since 1996. Wilson, who had been offensive coordinator at Connecticut, replaces Bob Shoop, who was fired Nov. 20 after a 2-8 season -- including no Ivy League victories.

Colorado state auditors said that former Colorado coach Gary Barnett’s off-season camp was such a bookkeeping mess they couldn’t be sure whether more than $400,000 worth of transactions broke any rules.

Several issues -- including missing paperwork, a lack of spending oversight, and a failure to do background checks on the staff that was working with young campers -- pointed to a need for big changes, the auditors said in a 72-page report.

Auditors said they were unable to determine from where the $328,000 paid to Barnett’s camps came. The amount accounted for 44% of the total income between 2002 and 2004. Nearly $103,000 in expenses from that period lacked sufficient paperwork, the audit said.

WINTER SPORTS

Short-Track Skater Sets U.S. Records

Hyo-Jung Kim, who lives at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, set American records in the four-lap and nine-lap time trials at the U.S. Short Track Speedskating championships at Marquette, Mich., and leads the women’s field after the first day of competition.

Apolo Ohno of Seattle won the men’s four- and nine-lap time trials to lead the men’s field, and Rusty Smith of Long Beach ranks fourth overall. Shani Davis of Chicago, who is vying for berths on the U.S. short-track and long-track teams, was seventh. The top five female and top five male skaters, based on points earned at the event, will be nominated to the U.S. Olympic team.

Giorgio Rocca of Italy won a World Cup slalom race with a combined time of 1 minute 32.26 seconds, but Bode Miller failed to finish the second run in Madonna Di Campiglio, Italy. Benjamin Raich of Austria was second, 0.25 of a second behind, and Kalle Palander of Finland was third, 0.89 back. Miller was sixth after the first run before failing to complete his second run.

Figure skater Brian Joubert of France, the 2004 men’s European champion, withdrew from this week’s Grand Prix finals in Tokyo after hurting his back doing a quadruple jump at the French championships over the weekend.

TENNIS

U.S. Picks Hard Court for Davis Cup

The U.S. chose a hard court for its Davis Cup opener against Romania Feb. 10-12 at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. Led by Andy Roddick, ranked No. 3 in the world, the U.S. is seeking its first crown since defeating Russia in 1995. Croatia will begin defense of its title on clay in Graz, Austria.

In the City Section girls’ semifinals, top-seeded Desiree Stone of North Hollywood advanced to the final by default when her fourth-seeded teammate, Axelle Klincke, decided not to play so she could study for finals this week.

In Wednesday’s 12:30 p.m. final at Balboa Sports Complex in Encino, Stone will play second-seeded Katy Nikolova of Palisades, who defeated teammate Krista Slocum, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

MISCELLANY

Champ Car Ends Ties With Trans-Am

Champ Car World Series officials said they wished Trans-Am well, but ended their affiliation with the sports car road-racing series they have sanctioned the last two years.

Gary Pitts, chairman of the Sports Car Club of America, said SCCA will explore other sanctioning options.

“These options include, but are not limited to, licensing the name out to another organization for a racing series or utilizing the name ourselves,” Pitts added in a statement.

British sprinter Dwain Chambers, preparing to make a comeback after a two-year doping ban, could be stripped of his 2003 European 100-meter title after admitting in a BBC interview over the weekend that he was using the performance-enhancing drug THG 18 months before he was caught. He became the first athlete to test positive for the substance in August 2003.

Real Salt Lake traded midfielder Clint Mathis to the Colorado Rapids for forward Jeff Cunningham in Major League Soccer.

Tricia Saunders, the U.S. Olympic coach and four-time world champion, will become the first woman inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame the weekend of June 2-3 in Stillwater, Okla.