Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL Ex-players charged

Three former Coastal Carolina football players kicked off the team a week ago after they were arrested on drugs and weapons charges face new charges for first-degree burglary and armed robbery. Freshman cornerbacks Mario Tynes and Eric Brown Jr. and freshman wide receiver Rickey Johnson, all 19, were involved in an assault and armed robbery at an apartment complex near Myrtle Beach, S.C., according to the Horry County Police Department. Also arrested and charged were Joshua Readon and Michael Lackey. Tynes, Brown and Johnson were arrested just hours after a football game Oct. 14, after police stopped the car they were in and found two guns, 3 pounds of marijuana and $1,345 in cash, authorities said. Officers pulled over the car after someone called 911 and said several men were in a vehicle waving guns out the window, police said. About 90 minutes after that arrest, a man reported an assault that occurred nearby, police said. One of the weapons taken from the vehicle the five were in had blood on it and an analysis by the State Law Enforcement Division matched the blood to the man who reported the assault. Last week,Tynes, Brown and Johnson were each charged with unlawful carrying of a pistol and manufacturing and possession of drugs.

North Carolina suspended cornerback Jermaine Strong and offensive tackle Andre Barbour on Monday for violating team and university rules. Barbour faces a court appearance today in Orange County (N.C.) on a misdemeanor charge of possession of up to one-half of an ounce of marijuana, according to the North Carolina Court System's Web site. No details were available on the reason for Strong's suspension.

SOCCER U.S. coach finished

Greg Ryan is out as the U.S. women's coach less than a month after his top-ranked team lost in the World Cup semifinals following a contentious goalie switch. U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati said that Ryan's contract will not be renewed when it expires at the end of the year. The squad does not play any more games in 2007. Ryan was 45-1-9 since taking over in early 2005, but that one loss - in his only major tournament - overshadowed the rest of his tenure. With the Americans favored to win their third World Cup, Ryan decided before their match with Brazil to make a change in goal, replacing Hope Solo with veteran Briana Scurry. Solo had allowed two goals in four World Cup starts and had a shutout string of nearly 300 minutes. Scurry, the goalie for the 1999 World Cup champs, had beaten Brazil two consecutive times. The United States lost 4-0 and had to settle for third place, andSolo ripped Ryan for the move. Gulati, U.S. Soccer secretary general Dan Flynn and retired star Mia Hamm will form the search committee. Gulati expected to make a hire in the next 30-45 days, with the team set to resume training in January, with the Beijing Olympics the major event on next year's schedule.

BASKETBALL U.S. wins opener

Kara Lawson scored 20 points of the bench to lead the U.S. Select Team to a 93-49 victory over the Canberra Capitals in their opening game at the FIBA World League Tournament in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Janel McCarville added 15 points, Diana Taurasi had 12, Cappie Pondexter 11 and Taj McWilliams-Franklin 10. The select team consists of eight players from the national team who are candidates for the 2008 U.S. Olympic women's team.

Oklahoma State point guard Byron Eaton injured his left shoulder in practice but is expected to be healthy before the start of the regular season. Coach Sean Sutton said that Eaton hurt his shoulder in practice Sunday and would miss 2 to 3 weeks of practice. Eaton, aMcDonald's All-American in high school, has started 51 games in his first two seasons at Oklahoma State. He averaged 7.7 points and 3.6 assists last season.

John W. Adams will succeed Hank Nichols as NCAA coordinator of men's basketball officials at the end of the 2007-2008 season. Nichols, the coordinator since 1986, announced in August he would retire at the end of the season. Adams has been coordinator of officials for the Horizon League since 1999, following similar posts with the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference and Great Lakes Valley Conference. He was an NCAA and Indiana high school official for 15 years. Adams, a 1971 Indiana State graduate, has evaluated Division I officials for the NCAA since 2000. He was a liaison between the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee and the Conference Commissioners Association's officiating coordinators.

MOTOR SPORTS

Mayfield leaves Davis team

Jeremy Mayfield will take over a new NASCAR Nextel Cup ride four races early, replacing Jeff Green in the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing entry for the rest ofthe season. Mayfield is leaving Bill Davis Racing, which is owned by Batesville's Bill Davis, and the No. 36 BDR ride he is giving up will be shared for now by Craftsman Truck series regulars Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson. Mayfield will replace Green in the 66 Chevrolet, beginning with Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. The Haas team announced earlier this month that Scott Riggs, currently with Gillette Evernham Motorsports, would replace Green or No. 70 driver Johnny Sauter in 2008. It hasn't been determined which car Mayfield will drive next year. Mayfield qualified for only 13 of the 32 Cup races this season, with a season-best finish of 22nd last month at Kansas. He is ranked 48th in the standings. Green had three top-10 finishes - three of sixths - in 32 starts this season. He is ranked 27th. Skinner, who leads the truck series, will drive the No. 36 Toyota Camry at Atlanta and the next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Benson will finish the season in the BDR car at Phoenix and Homestead, Fla.

Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti will make his NASCAR Busch Series debut Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park.

It will be the third race for Franchitti, who is moving to NASCAR full time next season. He raced in an ARCA event at Talladega, Ala., and made his NASCAR debut Saturday in the Truck Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Franchitti will drive the No. 42 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing at Memphis.

TENNIS American nets upset

American Mardy Fish scored a first-round upset, beating seventhseeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in the Lyon (France) Grand Prix. France's Marc Gicquel upset second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson was upset 6-2, 6-1 by 47th-ranked Ernests Gulbis, 19, in the first round of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open.

BASEBALL

Braves get Cardinals executive

St. Louis Cardinals executive Bruce Manno was hired as assistant general manager of the Atlanta Braves in Frank Wren's first move as GM since taking over after John Schuerholz stepped aside. Manno spent the past six years in St. Louis, where he was senior director of pro scouting and a special assistant to General Manager Walt Jocketty. Wren and Manno worked in Baltimore in 1999, when Wren was the Orioles' GM and Manno was his assistant. Manno also worked 16 years with the Milwaukee Brewers, serving as assistant GM from 1987-1994.

BASEBALLLa Russa to return for 13th season

ST. LOUIS - Tony La Russa will be back for his 13th season as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, agreeing to a two-year contract after a difficult season in which his team failed to play .500 ball.

"I'm real pleased it worked out," La Russa, 63, said at a news conference Monday. "I'm thrilled to be back."

Speculation that La Russa would leave heightened when the Cardinals fired General Manager Walt Jocketty this month. Jocketty and La Russa have been close since both were with the Oakland Athletics. The Cardinals have yet to replace Jocketty.

Team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. expects to hire a general manager by the end of the World Series.

La Russa called the GM vacancy "uncomfortable" but said feedback from management and players encouraged him to return.

"I thought in kind of an overwhelming way the relationship with the players had really special meaning," he said. "We had some discussions and I really had a clear message from them we're good to go."

La Russa finished a three-year deal at the end of the season. He said two years was the right lengthbecause a one-year contract would prompt questions from the start.

"One is the wrong message because from spring training on it's the same deal," La Russa said. "Two lets the players know I'm back for more than one."

La Russa's name had surfaced asa possible replacement for Joe Torre, who left the New York Yankees after 12 seasons, though La Russa denied interest in the Yankees job. La Russa took over the Cardinals after Torre was fired midway through the 1995 season.

La Russa has led St. Louis to seven playoff appearances, six National League Central championships, two pennants and the 2006 World Series victory against the Detroit Tigers. His A's team won the 1989 World Series.

He had weighed leaving after a trying season in which the defending World Series champions finished 78-84.

La Russa is 1,055-887 (.543) with the Cardinals. He is third on the career victories list with a record of 2,375-2,070 (.534) with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland and the Cardinals. He was American League Manger of the Year in 1983, 1988 and 1992, and NL Manager of the Year in 2002.