IN BRIEF

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Georgia Tech coach gets seven-year contract

Georgia Tech first-year coach Paul Johnson was given a new seven-year, $17.7 million contract Thursday.

The school said Johnson, who led a team picked to finish near the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference to a 9-3 record and its first win in eight years over rival Georgia, will receive $2.3 million for 2009, plus incentives.

Johnson was voted ACC Coach of the Year. The Yellow Jackets are ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and will meet Louisiana State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31.

Georgia Tech, a preseason pick to finish fourth in the Coastal Division, surged above expectations to go 3-1 against ranked teams. The Yellow Jackets beat Clemson, Miami and Florida State en route to a 9-3 record in the conference, tying Virginia Tech for the division title.

Also: Miami quarterback Robert Marve will not play in the Emerald Bowl next week because of a violation of team academic rules, which he told The Associated Press was regarding "a miscommunication about absentees for a class."

Miami coach Randy Shannon said he could not reveal any specific details about Marve's situation, other than it would be a one-game issue and not something to carry into 2009. Jacory Harris, who played in all 12 games and started the season opener, will start when Miami plays California in San Francisco on Dec. 27.

Marve missed the season opener because of a team sanction related to his arrest on a misdemeanor mischief charge on Oct. 31, 2007.

Ball State offensive coordinator Stan Parrish has signed a four-year contract to become the coach for the Cardinals.

Parrish will replace Brady Hoke, who resigned this week to become coach at San Diego State.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Mississippi coach arrested in Cincinnati

Police in Cincinnati arrested Mississippi men's basketball coach Andy Kennedy after a cab driver said the coach punched him while calling him "bin Laden" and other racial insults.

A pretrial hearing has been set for Jan. 16. Kennedy was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor count of assault, which would carry a maximum sentence of six months in jail for conviction.

Kennedy denied the allegations and his attorney, Mike Allen, entered a written plea of not guilty in Hamilton County Municipal Court.

The complaint filed in Municipal Court alleges that Kennedy assaulted Mohamed Moctar Ould Jiddou and "punched victim with a closed fist while shouting racial slurs." Kennedy, 40, was arrested at 1:15 a.m., police documents show.

Police subsequently arrested Bill Armstrong, director of operations for the basketball team, on a charge of disorderly conduct. Armstrong, 31, was intoxicated and had been ejected from the Lodge Bar Cincinnati downtown, and had continued taunting the taxi driver, the police report stated.

Also: Ohio State junior forward David Lighty will miss six to 12 weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot, Buckeyes coach Thad Matta said.

Lighty injured the foot late in a home win over Jacksonville on Wednesday. He tied his career high with 21 points in the game.

BOXING

Pacquiao-Hatton close to finalizing fight deal

Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton are close to finalizing a deal to meet in a 140-pound bout on May 2, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told The Associated Press.

The proposed fight, expected to be in Las Vegas, would match boxing's unofficial pound-for-pound champion against one of the world's most popular brawlers, assuredly generating huge paydays for both fighters.

Pacquiao (48-3-2, 36 knockouts) seems to be at the peak of his skills and international fame after stopping Oscar De La Hoya in their long-anticipated bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Dec. 6.

Hatton (45-1, 32 KOs) won his last bout against Paulie Malignaggi on Nov. 22 at the MGM Grand Garden to retain his 140-pound title.

Also: NASCAR has settled a $225 million lawsuit filed by a former official who said she was subjected to racial discrimination and sexual harassment during her two-plus years working for the stock-car organization, The Associated Press has learned.

The suit was settled during a Dec. 3 mediation in New York between Mauricia Grant and NASCAR. Settlement terms were confidential.

Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series from January 2005 until her October 2007 termination. In the lawsuit filed in June in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Grant alleged 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination during her employment.

With one round remaining, Dean Richards of Tacoma, Wash., moved into the men's overall lead, while Liz Johnson of Cheektowaga, N.Y., continued to lead the women at the United States Bowling Congress Team USA Trials at Sunset Station.

Johnson continued to cruise with an overall lead of nearly 200 pins, finishing with a 27-game total of 6,112, an average of 226.37. Richards jumped from second to first with a total of 6,146, an average of 227.63.

All players will take part in a final nine-game block today with the top three men and top three women earning automatic spots on Team USA for 2009.

The Vancouver Canucks signed free-agent center Mats Sundin.

Sundin, 37, has 555 goals and 766 assists in 17 seasons with Quebec and Toronto. He became an unrestricted free agent at the end of last season.

Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere has left the Anaheim Ducks to return home to Montreal following his father's death on Monday.

Giguere will miss tonight's game at Edmonton and will rejoin the Ducks before Monday's game at Vancouver.

Dallas Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov will undergo hip surgery next month and will be out indefinitely.

Zubov, 38, has missed eight games after injuring his hip last month.