FootballU.'S DANIELS A NEVADA CANDIDATE: Longtime Utah assistant Donny Daniels is one of the top candidates for head coaching job at the University of Nevada, where Pat Foster resigned last week.
One publication, Recruiting USA, called Daniels the leading candidate for the job, which comes open at the end of this year. However sources close to the situation say that Daniels is one of five or six candidates, which include head coaches at some Division I schools.
The 44-year-old Daniels has been a Ute assistant for 10 years, ever since coach Rick Majerus came to Utah. His name has come up in connection with other head coaching jobs over the years.
Baseball
SEAVER IN, MCCARVER OUT: Tom Seaver is back with the New York Mets, prompting the team to fire Tim McCarver, perhaps baseball's best television analyst.
Seaver, who has not been to Shea Stadium since 1988, will be in his retired uniform No. 41 for 10-12 days during spring training and will broadcast 50 games this season on WPIX, the Mets' new station.
McCarver was the team's color analyst for 16 seasons.
STRAWBERRY'S NEW GIG: Before Darryl Strawberry goes back to chasing fly balls, he will make a pitch for a cause he knows about firsthand.
The New York Yankees outfielder is a spokesman for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, which advocates prevention and research.
Strawberry, once a patient at Smithers Alcoholism Treatment Center, is also scheduled to speak Monday to a group of first-time, nonviolent drug offenders in the New York state parole program.
WAGNER GETS A RAISE: Billy Wagner received one of the largest raises in baseball history when he avoided arbitration with the Houston Astros by agreeing to a $10.3 million, three-year contract.
The 27-year-old reliever, who has just two years, 139 days of major league service, made $280,000 last year. His new contract calls for salaries of $2.1 million this year, $3.2 million in 2000 and $5 million in 2001.
HERNANDEZ GRIEVANCE: The players' association filed a grievance on behalf of reliever Xavier Hernandez, who signed a $250,000, one-year contract with Houston after Baltimore voided his $2.7 million, two-year deal.
The Orioles voided the contract after saying the 33-year-old right-hander flunked a physical. Arbitrator Richard Bloch is scheduled to hear arguments May 17-18. Hernandez is seeking the difference between his deals with the Orioles and Astros.
INDIANS GET CORDERO: Wil Cordero, the troubled infielder-outfielder who pleaded guilty to attacking his wife in 1997, agreed to a $500,000, one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians. Cordero, 27, spent last season with the Chicago White Sox.
Tennis
MARSEILLE OPEN: At Marseille, France, Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov, in his first match since winning the Australian Open, beat Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Marseille Open.