FOOTBALL
Pinkel's contract extended
Missouri has extended football Coach Gary Pinkel's contract through the 2019 season and upped his yearly salary to $4.02 million, making him the 10th Southeastern Conference coach to have a yearly salary of at least $4 million. Pinkel is headed into his 15th season at Missouri and is already the winningest coach in school history with 113 victories. He was making $3.2 million per year. The 62-year-old Pinkel has led the Tigers to SEC East titles the last two years. Missouri, which joined the SEC in 2012, has won five division titles under Pinkel, including three in the Big 12. Pinkel was coach of the year in the SEC last year, guiding the Tigers to an 11-3 finish and Citrus Bowl victory after being picked fourth in the division.
• The NCAA has put Oklahoma State's football program on a year of probation for failing to follow its own drug-testing policies. The Committee on Infractions also ordered Oklahoma State to suspend its Orange Pride student group after determining its all-female membership violated recruiting rules. The penalties follow a Sports Illustrated expose in 2013 that included allegations of widespread misconduct. The NCAA and Oklahoma State said last October that the allegations were "fundamentally unfounded." The NCAA said five football players competed in a total of seven games from 2008-2012 when they should have been benched for violating drug policies. The NCAA said the school was not guilty of failing to monitor its football program, a violation that could have brought more severe penalties. It agreed with the school's self-imposed recruiting limits.
• Roger Goodell says the two stadium projects in the Los Angeles area look promising enough to lead to the return of the NFL to the nation's second-largest city. The NFL commissioner told the Associated Press Sports Editors group Friday in New York that he thinks the projects in Inglewood and Carson are "viable," and have a "great deal of potential to be successful." St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke is involved in the Inglewood project, while the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders have combined to work on the Carson proposal. Goodell also acknowledged there is some urgency in the matter. The league has not had a franchise in Los Angeles since the 1994 season.
• Dallas Cowboys backup defensive lineman Davon Coleman and defensive end Greg Hardy got into a heated argument following conditioning drills on Friday, but Coleman's agent said that the story has been blown "significantly out of proportion." Michael Loeffler said that "my understanding is that Davon and Greg had a 'verbal discussion,' as it's been termed to me. There was no physical altercation, no hitting, no punching, nobody stepped in. They just had a discussion following a workout. This is much ado about nothing." However, other reports are surfacing that paint a different picture. Yahoo Sports' Rand Getlin said on his Twitter page, citing an unnamed source, that Coleman called Hardy "a woman beater." Loeffler said he had not heard anything along those lines in his discussions about the incident, and continued to downplay it. Incidents like this happen often between players, but this has become newsworthy because it involved Hardy. The NFL slapped Hardy with a 10-game suspension on Wednesday, as he attempts to resurrect his career after missing most of last season after domestic violence charges were brought against him for a May 2014 incident. Hardy is appealing the suspension and is hopeful to have the number of games reduced.
GOLF
Woods adds Players
Tiger Woods has added The Players Championship to his schedule, another indication that he is getting back to a normal golf season. Woods won The Players the last time he played in 2013. He missed last year while recovering from back surgery that forced him to miss a combined seven months in 2014. He sat out two months earlier this year to work on his game -- particularly his chipping -- after posting a career-high 82 in Phoenix. Woods is No. 106 in the world ranking and did not qualify for the Match Play Championship next week in San Francisco. The Players Championship is May 7-10. Jack Nicklaus said earlier this week that Woods told him he would be at the Memorial, which is June 4-7.
GYMNASTICS
Florida's Faehn leaves
Florida gymnastics coach Rhonda Faehn, who led the team to the last three NCAA titles, is leaving the program to become senior vice president of USA Gymnastics. The school made the announcement Friday, a week after Faehn guided the Gators to another title in her 13th season. Florida has won three consecutive NCAA Championships, the only team titles in the program's 43-year history. Faehn thanked Florida for a "rewarding and supportive atmosphere" and called the USA Gymnastics job a new opportunity to "impact young lives." She was a member of the 1988 U.S. Olympic team and competed four years on the U.S. national team.
HOCKEY
Jagr returning to play
Star forward Jaromir Jagr is coming out of international retirement to play for the Czech Republic at the upcoming world championship in his native country. Czech Republic coach Vladimir Ruzicka announced on Friday that the 43-year-old Jagr will be on the team. Jagr retired from international ice hockey after last year's worlds in Minsk, Belarus. The Czech team lost 3-0 to Sweden in the bronze medal game. The veteran has 722 goals and 1,080 assists in his NHL career, which was rejuvenated after he joined the Florida Panthers from the New Jersey Devils in February. He had six goals and 12 assists in 20 games for the Panthers. The worlds open on May 1.
• NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman might not yet have anything definitive to say about expansion, though he does have a fee in mind. How does $500 million sound? Without committing to what the price might be, Bettman told a meeting of Associated Press Sports Editors on Friday in New York that he considers a half-billion dollars a reasonable figure. That would be a significant increase from the $80 million price tag Nashville, Atlanta, Columbus and Minnesota each paid the last time the NHL expanded in the 1990s. Bettman cautioned that the actual fee will be determined by the league's Board of Governors, and the time for that discussion has not yet arrived. Groups in Las Vegas and Seattle are interested in landing NHL teams.
Sports on 04/25/2015