LAWRENCE, Kan. — Charlie Weis‘ first try at being a college head coach ended in disaster, the longtime NFL assistant unable to live up to the lofty expectations at Notre Dame. He’ll get another chance at a program with much more modest aspirations.
Weis, 55, accepted an offer to coach Kansas on Thursday, and will set about rebuilding a program that won the Orange Bowl just a few years ago but went 5-19 in two seasons under Turner Gill.
The longtime NFL assistant is wrapping up his first season as offensive coordinator at Florida after spending one season directing the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense. But his most extensive college experience came with Notre Dame, where he went 35-27 in five seasons.
• Memphis hired TCU co-offensive coordinator Justin Fuente to replace Larry Porter as its coach.
• Oregon State freshman defensive tackle Fred Thompson died after collapsing during a pick-up basketball game Wednesday night.
Irsay doesn’t expect Manning to return this season
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay told Indianapolis television station WRTV he “doesn’t see” even a glimmer of hope of getting quarterback Peyton Manning back on the field this year. Manning hasn’t thrown with teammates since having neck surgery Sept. 8, and with only four games left and the quarterback just now able to ramp up his rehab regimen, it was highly unlikely he could play before the season ends Jan. 1 at Jacksonville.
• Former San Diego Chargers linebacker Lew Bush — who played with the team for seven seasons and was part of its lone Super Bowl team in 1994 — died of an apparent heart attack at age 42.
• Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson returned to practice on a limited basis, a big step toward healing from a sprained left ankle.
• On the day the Buffalo Bills placed kicker Rian Lindell (shoulder) on injured reserve, there was encouraging news from another veteran — defensive tackle Kyle Williams — already on the season-ending list. Williams said he should be fully recovered in time for the start of training camp after having surgery to repair a bone spur in his left foot that had begun fraying his Achilles tendon.
• Lew Carpenter, who died last year after more than four decades as an NFL player and coach, had an advanced stage of a degenerative brain disease increasingly found in football players and other athletes who suffer repeated blows to the head.
Footnotes.
Martin St. Louis will be out of the Tampa Bay Lightning lineup indefinitely because of facial and nasal fractures suffered when he was struck in the face by a shot taken in practice by teammate Dominic Moore, ending his consecutive games streak at 499.
• The Minnesota Wild placed right wing Devin Setoguchi (lower body) on injured reserve and recalled left wing Jeff Taffe from its minor-league affiliate.
• Second-seeded Creighton (21-2) will take on unseeded Charlotte (16-4-3), and top-seeded North Carolina (20-2-2) will play No. 13-seed UCLA (18-4-1) tonight in the semifinals of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament in Hoover, Ala.
The Associated Press
