Marino to head Miami football operations
DAVIE, Fla., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Dan Marino, the most prolific quarterback in NFL history, Monday was named senior vice president of football operations by the Miami Dolphins.
Miami promoted Rick Spielman to general manager.
Under this structure, Marino has final say on football decisions. Both Spielman and Coach Dave Wannstedt will report to Marino.
After two straight playoff-less seasons, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga announced Dec. 29 that he was looking to restructure the front office. But the hiring of Marino was surprising after Huizenga spent most of the last 10 days interviewing numerous candidates.
Former Seattle and New Orleans General Manager Randy Mueller, Seattle Vice President of Operations Ted Thompson, Tampa Bay Director of Personnel Tim Ruskell and Baltimore Director of Player Personnel Phil Savage were among candidates interviewed.
Marino, who retired after the 1999 season, is the NFL's all-time leader with 61,361 passing yards, 420 touchdowns and 4,967 completions in 17 years with the Dolphins.
Palffy undergoes season-ending surgery
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Los Angeles Kings right wing Ziggy Palffy, the team's leading scorer, underwent season-ending right shoulder surgery Monday.
The procedure is expected to sideline Palffy at least six months.
Stricken by an overabundance of injuries the last few years, the Kings watched Palffy go down on Jan. 7 in a game against Anaheim.
A native of Slovakia, Palffy leads the Kings with 16 goals and 25 assists in 35 games. The 31-year-old has 318 goals and 353 assists in 642 career contests with the New York Islanders and Kings.
Palffy joins Los Angeles' other top scorers, Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh, on the sidelines. Allison and Deadmarsh have not played this season as they recover from concussions.
The Kings on Monday also placed center Martin Straka on injured reserve with a knee sprain.
Minter South Carolina defensive coordinator
COLUMBIA, S.C., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Rick Minter, fired after 10 years as Cincinnati coach, reunited with Lou Holtz Monday when South Carolina named him as its defensive coordinator.
It was during Minter's two seasons with Holtz at Notre Dame (1992-93) that he earned a reputation as a top defensive coordinator. The 1993 Fighting Irish held nine of their 12 opponents under 100 yards rushing en route to an 11-1 season. That December, Minter accepted the coaching job at Cincinnati.
Minter took the Bearcats to four postseason bowl games and compiled a 53-63-1 record, making him the program's winningest and losingest coach. He ended Cincinnati's 47-year bowl drought in 1997 when the Bearcats went to the Humanitarian Bowl.
Connecticut, Duke still 1-2 in men's poll
MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Connecticut and Duke remained the top two teams in the men's college basketball poll, released Monday.
Connecticut (13-1) received 24 of a possible 31 first-place votes and 763 points. The Huskies had a narrow 75-74 victory over Rutgers on Tuesday before a 86-59 thrashing of then-No. 7 Oklahoma on Sunday.
Duke (12-1) posted a pair of lopsided wins last week and picked up two-first place votes and 729 points.
Wake Forest (13-0), one of seven undefeated teams in the poll is third, followed by Stanford (13-0) and Kentucky (10-1).
Saint Joseph's (13-0) is sixth followed by Cincinnati (11-0), Arizona (10-2), Louisville (11-1) and Florida (11-2) to round out the top 10.
The next five are North Carolina (10-2), Kansas (9-2), Oklahoma (10-1), Georgia Tech (12-2) and unbeaten Pittsburgh (16-0).
