INDIANAPOLIS — Former Valparaiso coach Homer Drew and his wife, Janet, have both been diagnosed with cancer, athletic department spokesman Aaron Leavitt confirmed Tuesday night.
Drew retired from the school for the second time in May and said then the decision was not health-related. His son Bryce replaced him as coach of the Crusaders. Drew’s older son, Scott, is head coach at Baylor.
In 1988, Homer Drew took over a program that had never gone to the NCAA Tournament, won a conference title nor had a winning record in the Division I era. Drew produced nine 20-win seasons and five straight NCAA appearances.
• Indiana admitted to a secondary NCAA rules infraction that involved basketball coach Tom Crean and assistant coach Tim Buckley. Indiana plans to count the improper contact as one of two permissible ones, will disallow a second contact with the recruit and give up two recruiting days this season.
• Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis, who averaged 15.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game as a junior, will miss the first four games of the season because he played in two exhibition contests three years ago before sitting out the rest of the year.
South Carolina QB Garcia dismissed from team
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Stephen Garcia won’t get a sixth chance to play quarterback for South Carolina.
Garcia, who had been suspended and brought back to the team five previous times, was dismissed for failing an alcohol test. The fifth-year senior had agreed to undergo periodic tests for the presence of any alcohol as a condition of his reinstatement. Garcia was demoted to second string behind sophomore Connor Shaw on Oct. 3 for inconsistent play and did not take part in a 54-3 blowout of Kentucky last Saturday.
• Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd (hip) said he has been cleared to practice and is expected to start Saturday against Maryland.
• Texas Tech junior running back Eric Stephens is out for the season after dislocating his left knee in Saturday’s 45-40 loss to Texas A&M. He was averaging 114 yards per game and was on pace to reach 1,000 for the season.
• Kentucky running back Josh Clemons will miss the rest of the season with a torn meniscus.
• Central Florida coach George O’Leary said he’s hearing from friends around college football with no ties to UCF that “everything’s in place” for the Knights to soon be invited to join the Big East Conference.
U.S. falls to Ecuador in friendly
HARRISON, N.J. — Second-half substitute Jaime Ayovi beat defender Tim Ream to a cross and scored in the 79th minute to give Ecuador a 1-0 victory over the United States in a friendly.
“It’s going to take time,” goalkeeper Tim Howard said after the Americans fell to 1-3-1 since Jurgen Klinsmann replaced Bob Bradley as coach in late July. “People are going to ask questions, and that’s natural. But it’s still in the infant stages.”
Footnotes.
After 22 years on the U.S. national luge team and three trips to the Olympics, Tony Benshoof retired from competitive sliding.
• The 2015 British Open will be held at the Old Course at St. Andrews.
The Associated Press
