WAC, Conference USA Invited to Alliance Table

Officials of college football’s Bowl Alliance agreed Monday to virtually guarantee teams from the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA bids to an alliance bowl if they are ranked in the consensus top six of the polls, beginning in 1998.

The alliance snubbed Brigham Young last season after the Cougars finished the regular season ranked No. 5 with a 13-1 record.

“None of the BYU situation was really addressed in the conversation,� said Roy Kramer, the commissioner of the Southeastern Conference and alliance president.

If a WAC team doesn’t qualify, a revenue-sharing agreement pays $1.6 million to the conference.

Jurisprudence

Charges of joyriding, lodged Jan. 13 against UCLA running back Skip Hicks, were dismissed Monday in Santa Monica when prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence to prosecute.

Tampa Bay Buccaneer defensive tackle Warren Sapp said he was not guilty of a misdemeanor marijuana possession. . . . Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser said he would appeal a federal judge’s assessment of a $75 fine for riding a snowmobile in a protected wilderness area. . . . British shot putter Paul Edwards lost a High Court bid to lift a four-year drug ban that will prevent him from competing in the World Championships in August.

Southland Report

In a meeting with a top university administrator, Cal State Northridge men’s swimming Coach Barry Schreifels guaranteed to raise the $6,000 it would cost to operate the team one more season.

Schreifels said Ron Kopita, CSUN’s vice president of student affairs, promised to forward the proposal to Northridge President Blenda Wilson.

On June 11, Northridge dropped swimming and three other men’s programs to try to comply with gender equity requirements.

Miscellany

Marion Jones, a former Thousand Oaks High student and Universty of North Carolina sprinter, will head for Europe for the first time, opening a tour with a 100-meter run today at Turin, Italy.

Double Olympic champion Michael Johnson has recovered from a leg injury sustained in a race with Donovan Bailey and will return to competition in a 400-meter race at the Paris grand prix meet Wednesday, his agent said.

Chris Campbell, a two-time Olympic wrestler, has been picked to head scandal-ridden USA Boxing, becoming the first black executive director of an American Olympic sport.

Defender Ibrahim Hassan was suspended for six months and fined $3,000 by Al-Ahli, a soccer club in Egypt, for making an obscene gesture to fans in Morocco.

Laurie Calloway was fired as coach of the San Jose Clash after a 5-10 start, the team said. Assistant Francisco Matturano will become interim coach until a replacement is named, Clash President Peter Bridgwater said.

Orin Richburg, women’s track coach at Washington for 12 years, has been named head men’s and women’s coach, Athletic Director Barbara Hedges said in Seattle. Richburg succeeds Mike Johnson, who has been offered reassignment within the athletic department. Ken Shannon is retiring as a full-time coach but will stay on part time.

Names in the News

Dave Peterson, who coached the U.S. ice hockey teams in the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics, had a heart attack at his home in Colorado Springs and is scheduled for bypass surgery on Wednesday. . . . Mary Wollesen, 54, of Clarkston, Mich., was killed when her Austin Mini Cooper was struck broadside by a Chevrolet Camaro during qualifying for a sports car race at the Road America track at Elkhart Lake, Wis.