LAS CRUCES, N.M. — UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker has been hired as New Mexico State’s head football coach.
Walker will replace Hal Mumme, who was fired in early December after the Aggies went 3-9.
Walker, 48, becomes the seventh black head coach at the 119 major college football schools.
• Oregon State coach Mike Riley agreed to a one-year contract extension through the 2015 season.
• Western Michigan coach Bill Cubit agreed to a new five-year contract.
• Florida receiver Percy Harvin (ankle) is probable for the Jan. 8 Bowl Championship Series national title game against Oklahoma.
• The Alabama attorney general’s office is reviewing reports of alleged contact between suspended Crimson Tide offensive tackle Andre Smith and a sports agent.
• Quarterback Robert Marve is leaving Miami after starting 11-of-13 games for the Hurricanes.
• Southern California fullback Stanley Havili is academically ineligible for the Rose Bowl against Penn State on Thursday.
• Auburn defensive lineman Sen’Derrick Marks is skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft.
Rockets re-sign Mutombo
HOUSTON — The Houston Rockets re-signed 42-year-old center Dikembe Mutombo, who supplants Sam Cassell, 39, as the NBA’s oldest active player.
• Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee next month.
• The New Jersey Nets declined to match Oklahoma City’s offer sheet to former first-round pick Nenad Krstic, a 7-footer who averaged 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in four seasons.
Snyder, Diamondbacks agree to extension
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks and catcher Chris Snyder have agreed to a contract extension worth $14.5 million through 2011 with a club option for the 2012 season. Snyder, 27, hit .237 with a career-high 16 home runs and 64 RBIs in 2008.
• Reliever Joe Nelson signed a $1.3 million, one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. Nelson was 3-1 with one save in 59 appearances for the Florida Marlins last season. His 2.00 ERA was third-best among NL relievers.
Footnotes.
Drayson Bowman, who played most of his youth hockey in Colorado, scored a goal, and former Avalanche draft pick Kevin Shattenkirk had three assists as the United States coasted into the world junior hockey championship playoffs with a 12-0 rout of Kazakhstan in Ottawa. The U.S. will play Canada tonight in a matchup of 3-0-0 teams.
• The Vancouver Canucks acquired goaltender Jason LaBarbera from the Los Angeles Kings for a seventh-round pick in the 2009 draft.
• Heather Richardson and Shani Davis won their first sprint national titles on the final day of the U.S. Long Track Speedskating National Championships in West Allis, Wis.
• Auburn’s men’s and women’s head swimming and diving coach, Richard Quick, has been diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous brain tumor. The Associated Press
