OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors parted ways with coach Keith Smart on Wednesday, the first major fallout this offseason from a new ownership group that has promised major changes to the perennial underachieving franchise.
Smart spent seven years as an assistant with Golden State before he replaced Don Nelson before training camp. The Warriors went 36-46 under Smart, a 10-game improvement from the previous season but clearly not enough to appease owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber.
While Lacob said he would prefer someone with previous NBA head coaching experience, he declined to say whether the Warriors are interested in former Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan or NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy.
Fiesta Bowl gets early approval
NEW ORLEANS — To Bowl Championship Series officials, the Fiesta Bowl appears “dead serious” about reform. And the BCS is “miles away” from considering whether to replace the Arizona game with another bowl.
“The Fiesta Bowl issue happened, and yes, it was disturbing,” BCS executive director Bill Hancock said. “But people in Phoenix are as disturbed as we are and . . . they want to do something about it.”
Fiesta Bowl officials, who also run the Insight Bowl, were scheduled to meet today with the NCAA’s Postseason Bowl Licensing Subcommittee.
The subcommittee has said it will delay its decision on licensing the Fiesta and Insight bowls until it can gather more information and review the findings of the BCS task force that is examining related financial and political improprieties.
In March, an internal investigation by a three-member panel made up of two Fiesta Bowl board members and a retired Arizona Supreme Court justice uncovered widespread lavish spending, including $33,188 for a Pebble Beach, Calif., birthday bash for CEO and president John Junker, $13,000 for the wedding and honeymoon of an aide, and a $1,200 strip club tab.
• BYU is guaranteed to end its first season of football independence in a bowl game — as long as the Cougars are bowl eligible. The Armed Forces Bowl extended BYU a provisional invitation to its Dec. 30 game against a Conference USA opponent.
Collmus to call Triple Crown races
NEW YORK — Monmouth and Gulfstream Park announcer Larry Collmus is the new voice of racing’s Triple Crown. Collmus will call the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes for NBC. He replaces Tom Durkin, who opted not to re-sign with the network, citing health concerns.
• Calvin Borel, who has won three of the last four Kentucky Derbys, will ride Twice the Appeal in the May 7 race in Louisville, Ky.
Footnotes.
Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews are finalists for the Frank Selke Trophy, given to the NHL’s best defensive forward. The winner will be announced June 22.
• Reigning WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson will skip the first half of the 2012 WNBA season to focus on training with the Australian national team in preparation for the London Olympics.
The Associated Press
