Tuesday Sports in Brief

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Auburn has hired Boise State’s Bryan Harsin as its head coach, luring him away from his alma mater and into the powerful Southeastern Conference.

Auburn announced the hiring Tuesday evening. The 44-year-old Harsin is 69-19 with three Mountain West titles in seven seasons at Boise State, but winning in the SEC affords greater chances for playoff berths and national titles.

The Auburn job is also sure to bring a major pay raise, though contract details for Harsin weren’t immediately available.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The Gasparilla Bowl was canceled Tuesday after South Carolina withdrew because of COVID-19 issues within the program.

Gasparilla Bowl executive director Scott Glaser said organizers tried to find an opponent for UAB for Saturday’s game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, but came up empty.

The Gamecocks, who finished 2-8, opted out due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the program.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Florida received a year of probation and football coach Dan Mullen was sanctioned Tuesday after the school and the NCAA agreed to resolve an infractions case involving impermissible contact with recruits last year.

None of the infractions was deemed Level I, the most serious, but the NCAA said the head coach did not promote an atmosphere of compliance. It did not name Mullen, who has been Florida’s coach since 2018.

Many of the penalties, including reduced evaluation days and number of permissible phones calls to recruits, were implemented earlier this year.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Next year’s game between service-academy rivals Air Force and Navy has been moved to Sept. 11 in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the academies announced Tuesday.

The game was originally scheduled for Oct. 2.

Air Force athletic director Nathan Pine called it “an appropriate move for our country.”

NHL

NHL coaches are required to wear masks behind the bench, owners are barred from having face-to-face meetings with players, and teams can travel with no more than 50 people.

Those are among the coronavirus-related protocols the NHL released Tuesday in preparing to open the 2021 season on Jan. 13. Players scheduled to report for the start of training camp over the next two weeks.

The NHL also announced it is tweaking its offside rule for the upcoming season.

Both of the player’s skates must be fully across the plane of the opposing blue line ahead of the puck in order to be offside.

NEW YORK (AP) - There will be advertisements on NHL players’ helmets this season as teams try to recoup revenue lost to the pandemic.

The New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals and Nashville Predators became the first teams to unveil helmet ads Tuesday. It’s a one-year trial with fans not allowed in most arenas and a financial shortfall coming with a shortened 56-game regular season.

MLB

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Phillies have promoted Sam Fuld to general manager.

The team also promoted Jorge Velandia to assistant general manager and Terry Ryan to special assistant to the general manager.

Dave Dombrowski was hired to run baseball operations two weeks ago.

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York Mets and Noah Syndergaard agreed to a $9.7 million, one-year contract Tuesday for next season, when the injured right-hander hopes to return from Tommy John surgery.

The Mets and Syndergaard avoided arbitration by settling on the same salary Syndergaard was set to make in 2020. He ended up earning $3,592,593 when the season was shortened to 60 games by the coronavirus pandemic.

Syndergaard had reconstructive right elbow surgery in March,

BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce and longtime player, coach and broadcaster Doug Collins lead the first-time nominees announced Tuesday for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021.

Also making their debut as candidates are Michael Cooper, Howard Garfinkel, Lou Henson, Val Ackerman, Yolanda Griffith and Lauren Jackson. Finalists are scheduled to be announced at NBA All-Star Weekend and those elected would be unveiled at the NCAA Final Four.

Other returnees to the ballot, the Hall said, include Chauncey Billups, Chris Bosh, Richard Hamilton, Bob Huggins, Ben Wallace, Chris Webber, Jay Wright, Swin Cash and Becky Hammon.

The Class of 2021 Enshrinement ceremony is scheduled to take place in Springfield next September.

COLLEGE ATHLETICS

The graduation gap between white and Black and football players on bowl-bound teams is increasing.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport found that among the 56 teams playing in bowl games in this pandemic-affected season, white athletes graduate at a rate 16.3% higher than their Black teammates.

A similar study last year saw white athletes graduate at a rate of 15.6% higher than Black athletes.

OLYMPICS

TOYKO (AP) - The official cost of the postponed Tokyo Olympics has increased by 22%, the local organizing committee said in unveiling its new budget on Tuesday.

In an online news conference, organizers said the Olympics will cost $15.4 billion to stage. This is up from $12.6 billion in last year’s budget.

The added $2.8 billion is the cost of the one-year delay. Expenses come from renegotiating contracts and measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Olympics are to open on July 23. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 24.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

NEW YORK (AP) - National Women’s Hockey League games will be televised live in the U.S. for the first time when NBC Sports Network airs the Isobel Cup semifinals and final in early February.

The NHWL and NBC Sports announced the historic agreement Tuesday for the games Feb. 4 and 5. Getting on TV in the U.S. gives the sport a platform it doesn’t have in the country aside from the Winter Olympics.

SOCCER

GENEVA (AP) - FIFA has filed a criminal complaint against former president Sepp Blatter over the finances of its loss-making soccer museum in Zurich.

Soccer’s governing body said on Tuesday it suspected “criminal mismanagement by FIFA’s former management and companies appointed by them” to work on the museum — long seen as a pet project of Blatter’s — in a renovated and rented city center building.

The FIFA World Football Museum opened in 2016 after $140 million of soccer money was spent refurbishing the 1970s office building to also include 34 rental apartments.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) - Lionel Messi broke Pelé’s all-time scoring milestone for their clubs by netting his 644th career goal for Barcelona on Tuesday.

Messi, who helped Barcelona win 3-0 at Valladolid, had equaled Pelé’s all-time scoring tally on Saturday. His 643rd career goal for Barcelona since his 2004 debut matched Pelé’s tally for Santos from 1957-74.

For his 644th - Barcelona’s third of the night - Messi had help from 18-year-old Pedro “Pedri” González.

CHICAGO (AP) - Gio Reyna was voted the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Young Male Player of the Year on Tuesday after a breakthrough season that included debuts with Borussia Dortmund and the American national team.

The midfielder made his national team debut in an exhibition at Wales on Nov. 12, the day before his 18th birthday, and four days later against Panama became the third-youngest scorer in U.S. national team history.

A son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna and former U.S. midfielder Danielle Egan, Gio Reyna made his Bundesliga debut on Jan. 18 at Augsburg and has five goals and seven assists in 39 matches.

HORSE RACING

WASHINGTON (AP) - A bill to ban race-day doping of horses and set national medication and track-safety standards for the horse-racing industry is nearing the finish line. Lawmakers gave final approval to the bill late Monday as part of the massive legislation on spending and pandemic relief.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill in the next few days.

Passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act comes after a series of doping scandals and a rash of horse fatalities in recent years.

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