Coach Dan Devine dead at 77
PHOENIX, May 9 (UPI) -- Dan Devine, whose Hall of Fame coaching career included a national championship with Notre Dame in 1977, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 77.
Devine coached 22 seasons at Arizona State, Missouri and Notre Dame, posting a 173-46-9 record, and also spent four seasons as coach of the NFL's Green Bay Packers, winning an NFC Central Division title in 1972.
A native of Wisconsin, Devine will best be remembered as the coach who replaced Hall of Famer Ara Parseghian as coach at Notre Dame in 1975. Devine won a national title in his third season at South Bend as the Fighting Irish went 11-1 and defeated previously unbeaten Texas, 38-10, in the Cotton Bowl.
In six seasons at Notre Dame, Devine was 53-16-1.
Devine became a head coach in 1955 when he was hired by Arizona State at the age of 31. He made an immediate impact, posting an 8-2-1 record in his first season and beginning a highly successful three-year tenure in Tempe. In 1957, the Sun Devils finished 10-0 for the first perfect season and national ranking in school history.
Arizona State had nine shutouts under Devine, including four in 1957.
Devine left for Missouri in 1958, beginning a 13-year stay in which the Tigers were 93-37-7 and never lost more than three games in a season. Missouri won the 1961 Orange Bowl, 1963 Bluebonnet Bowl, 1966 Sugar Bowl and 1969 Gator Bowl with Devine on the sidelines.
Lured to the NFL in 1971, Devine was just 25-27-4 in four seasons in Green Bay. His best season was 1972, when the Packers were 10-4 and Devine was named Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers.
Devine was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1985.
Saints drop Randy Mueller as GM
METAIRIE, La., May 9 (UPI) -- After conducting the NFL draft and making numerous offseason signings, Randy Mueller is out as general manager of the New Orleans Saints.
Saints owner Tom Benson announced on Thursday that Mueller has been released from his contract so "he can pursue another position that reflects his style of management."
Benson immediately assumed the position of general manager.
The timing of Mueller's departure is stunning since he has already shaped the 2002 team with major offseason moves. He traded leading rusher Ricky Williams to the Miami Dolphins for draft picks to pave the way for Deuce McAllister, shipped perennial Pro Bowl tackle William Roaf to the Kansas City Chiefs, signed numerous free agents and made the team's picks in the April draft.
Yet Benson waited until two months before the start of training camp to fire Mueller.
"This had to do with Randy's management style," Benson said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. "It had nothing to do with wins and losses, it had to do with style of management. I felt he needed to do a better job of communicating. He wanted to manage things in a different way than I wanted to manage."
Mueller took over as general manager for the Saints in January 2000, shortly after Benson fired coach Mike Ditka and general manager Bill Kuharich, and was named as executive of the year.
Mueller hired Jim Haslett as coach, who in the 2000 season led the Saints to a 10-6 record, the NFC West title and the franchise's first playoff win. But the Saints finished 7-9 last season, dropping their last four games.
Duncan NBA Most Valuable Player
SAN ANTONIO. May 9 (UPI) -- New Jersey Coach Byron Scott may think the choice is "ridiculous," but Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs is the NBA's Most Valuable Player for the 2001-02 season.
Word leaked out on Monday that the 7-foot Duncan had won the award with Nets point guard Jason Kidd finishing second.
Duncan, 26, ranked among the league leaders with 25.5 points (fifth-best), 12.7 rebounds (second) and 2.4 blocks (fourth) per game to help San Antonio win the Midwest Division title with a 58-24 record, the second-best mark in the Western Conference.
Kidd, 29, was acquired from the Phoenix Suns for guard Stephon Marbury last summer and helped the Nets improve from 26-52 to 52-26, the franchise's best regular season record, and capture their first Atlantic Division title.
Duncan clearly emerged as the leader of the Spurs this season, enjoying his best season, while fellow 7-footer Robinson had the lowest output of his career in points, rebounds and blocked shots. Duncan led the team in scoring in 72 of 82 games and in rebounding 69 times. He also took what was his one weakness, his 62 percent shooting from the free throw line last season, and turned it into a strength, making nearly 80 percent from the line.
NBA's top playoff seeds in action
DALLAS, May 9 (UPI) -- The Sacramento Kings, who managed only a split at home, are at Dallas Thursday night to play the Dallas Mavericks in Game Three of their NBA Western Conference semifinal series.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey Nets, who held their homecourt advantage, take a 2-0 lead into Thursday night's Game Three in their Eastern Conference semifinal contest against the Hornets in Charlotte.
Kings fans have prided themselves on being the loudest in the league, but they irritated Mavericks' Coach Don Nelson with their clanging of cowbells in the first two games of the series at Arco Arena.
Now, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban reportedly has purchased hundreds of cowbells for Thursday's game at American Airlines Center, but the Kings should be more worried about containing Dallas point guard Steve Nash. He scored a playoff career-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting and had eight assists in the Mavericks' 110-102 win in Game Two on Monday.
In order to contain Nash, the Kings may have to slow the tempo of the game, especially if they plan on again playing only seven guys as they did in Game Two.
Sacramento got a sub-par outing from normally sharpshooting Peja Stojakovic, who scored 30 points in Game One, but made just 5-of-19 shots for 14 on Monday.
Game Four will be Saturday, also in Dallas.
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Jamal Mashburn, who has missed several playoff games because of a viral illness, will continue to be missing in action.
In Charlotte's two home playoff games against Orlando, the average home attendance dipped to 9,914, half of the Coliseum's capacity of 19,828.
In Game Two, the Nets played perhaps their best game of the postseason, pulling away for a 102-88 victory. Reserve guard Lucious Harris scored a playoff career-high 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting to lead a balanced attack.
Last year, the Hornets overcame a 2-0 deficit against Milwaukee in the conference semifinals by winning the next three games before losing the final two.
Game Four will be Sunday in Charlotte.
Blues, Hurricanes to get even
ST. LOUIS, May 9 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Blues look to tie their series at two games apiece when they host the Detroit Red Wings Thursday night in Game Four of the NHL Western Conference semifinals.
Keith Tkachuk sparked the Blues offense with his first career playoff hat trick on Tuesday as St. Louis captured a 6-1 triumph, snapping a six-game postseason winning streak by Detroit.
Pavol Demitra, playing alongside Tkachuk, had a shorthanded goal and two assists while Scott Mellanby continued his playoff surge with a goal and an assist. Mellanby, who has tallied six goals and three assists this postseason, has points in six of his last seven games.
Tuesday's offensive outburst was enough to chase Detroit goaltender Dominik Hasek from the nets for the first time this postseason. Until that point, Hasek had not surrendered more than four goals, but the six-time Vezina Trophy winner has proven to rebound quickly from his last two four-goal mishaps. He has held opponents to a combined one goal in the following contests.
St. Louis last managed to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the 1972 semifinals against the Minnesota North Stars, and is 1-11 all-time in series when losing the first two games.
Also, the Carolina Hurricanes hope they can finally solve goaltender Jose Theodore when they look to even their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Montreal Canadiens at two wins apiece.
After a dominant regular season, Theodore was merely average through the first four games of the Canadiens' first-round series with the Boston Bruins. In Montreal's last five playoff games, however, the finalist for the Hart and Vezina Trophies has been nothing short of spectacular.
Mets' Franco done for season
NEW YORK, May 9 (UPI) -- Long-time New York Mets reliever John Franco needs "Tommy John" surgery to repair an avulsion of the MCL and flexor tendon in his left elbow and will miss at least the rest of the season.
Franco, the National League's all-time leader with 422 saves over a remarkably durable 18-year career, has not pitched since undergoing surgery Dec. 3 to remove a calcium deposit in the elbow.
The 41-year-old southpaw was delivered the bad news before Wednesday night's game against San Francisco by Mets General Manager Steve Phillips, Manager Bobby Valentine and team physician Dr. Andrew Rokito, who administered the MRI that found the damage.
Franco was advised to wait before deciding whether to undergo the ligament replacement surgery, which would put him out of action for approximately one year, or end his career.
The New York native who was named the Mets' captain last May, Franco was acquired from Cincinnati prior to the 1990 season. The four-time All-Star trails only Lee Smith (478) on the all-time saves list. Franco has the most games pitched (605) and saves (274) in Mets history.
Falcons oust General Manager
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga., May 9 (UPI) -- The reshuffling of the Atlanta Falcons' front office has cost general manager Harold Richardson his job.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank recently completed the purchase of the team from the Smith family and promised a reorganization of the front office. One of those moves came Thursday when the team announced that Richardson, who has served as general manager since January 1998, will "pursue other opportunities" in the NFL.
In his role, Richardson served as the team's salary cap administrator and was responsible for player contract negotiators. The major personnel decisions are made by Dan Reeves, the Coach and Executive Director of Football Operations.
Richardson joined the Falcons in February 1997 as assistant head coach-football operations, and helped build a team that went to the Super Bowl following the 1998 season.
Prior to joining the Falcons, Richardson spent eight seasons with the Denver Broncos as a coach and administrator.
