Football
MARSHALL COACH RETIRES: Marshall football coach Bob Pruett retired Wednesday after nine years, saying it was time to move on.
The 61-year-old Pruett told the team of his decision in the morning and held a final news conference three hours later. Larry Kueck, Marshall's associate offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, will serve as interim coach.
"It's not about winning and losing. It's not about money. It's not about anything I didn't get," Pruett said. "It's just time. It's well thought out. This is not a sudden thing."
Athletic director Bob Marcum was disappointed, but he respected Pruett's decision.
"There's no doubt, I've tried everything possible to talk coach Pruett out of it. In fact, I offered him my job," Marcum said jokingly. "I said, 'Listen, if you want to be the athletic director, that's no problem. I'm highly mobile.'
"He said, 'That's crazy. I'm giving up one pressure cooker. Why do I want to take another one?"'
McPHAIL DIES: Former Oklahoma fullback Buck McPhail, who helped clear the way for Heisman Trophy winner Billy Vessels, has died in Costa Mesa, Calif. He was 75.
McPhail died Friday from a hardening of the arteries, said Mark Rice, a spokesman for Wiefels and Son Mortuary in Palm Springs, Calif., which is handling the funeral arrangements.
In 1952, McPhail teamed with Vessels to become college football's first pair of same-season 1,000-yard rushers. That year, McPhail gained 1,018 yards and averaged 6.3 yards a carry, and Vessels won the Heisman.
Basketball
WOLVERINE SENTENCED: Michigan point guard Daniel Horton was sentenced Wednesday to two years' probation after pleading guilty to grabbing his girlfriend by the neck and choking her in December.
Judge Ann Mattson also sentenced Horton to one year of counseling, said Steve Hiller, deputy chief assistant prosecutor of Washtenaw County. Hiller said the sentence was typical for such an offense.
If Horton successfully completes his sentence, he will have his conviction wiped from his record, under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. Horton, a junior, was suspended for the rest of the season.
N.C. PLAYER MENDS: North Carolina leading scorer Rashad McCants was cleared Wednesday to return to practice. McCants has missed the Tar Heels' last four games because of an intestinal disorder.
In a release sent by the school, coach Roy Williams said he wasn't sure how much McCants would be able to play on Friday in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. The 6-foot-4 junior is averaging nearly 16 points and 3.1 rebounds and leads the team with 50 three-point field goals.
Soccer
FIFA PUNISHMENT: FIFA punished Albania and Costa Rica on Wednesday for their soccer fans' unruly behavior, ordering both teams to play upcoming World Cup qualifiers behind closed doors.
The world governing body said its disciplinary committee decided on the sanction, which applies to home games, after receiving reports from the referee and other officials from Albania's Feb. 9 qualifier against Ukraine and Costa Rica's match against Mexico the same day.
Albania received a two-game penalty, and will have to play in an empty stadium when it faces Georgia on June 4 and Kazakhstan on Sept. 3. Costa Rica's lighter punishment applies only to its March 26 match against Panama.
FIFA also fined Albania $34,400 and Costa Rica $17,200.
Skiing
CUP TITLE AWAITS: Bode Miller's shot at winning the overall World Cup title might depend on the weather.
Heavy snowfall forced organizers to postpone Wednesday's downhill practice session at the World Cup finals. If the training and downhill are canceled Thursday, Miller's hopes of becoming the first American man to win the overall title in 22 years could be severely dented.
The women's downhill also was canceled and rescheduled for Thursday morning.
Miller has a 52-point lead over Austrian Benjamin Raich going into the final four scheduled races of the season: downhill, super giant slalom, giant slalom and slalom. The 27-year-old American also has a chance to win the downhill title. He trails leader Michael Walchhofer by 93 points.
Hockey
SUNDIN TO SKIP WORLDS: Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin will skip this year's hockey world championships, slated to start in Austria next month.
"Unfortunately, it's true. We talked to each other today and he said no," Sweden coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson told a local television network Wednesday.
Sundin's decision was expected. Unlike many other locked-out NHL players, the Stockholm native decided not to play this winter, turning down an offer from his former Swedish Elite League club Djurgarden.
He hasn't played since Sweden lost to the Czech Republic in the World Cup of Hockey quarterfinals last September.
"Mats believes he can't get in shape for the worlds and I can understand that," Gustafsson said.
The world championships will be held April 30-May 15 in Innsbruck and Vienna.