Report: Barnett to Stay as Coach at Colorado

Suspended Colorado football Coach Gary Barnett will be reinstated, the Rocky Mountain News reported Wednesday.

The school scheduled a news conference for today to make an announcement about its football program.

President Betsy Hoffman and Chancellor Richard Byyny will discuss “decisions related to the athletic department and football program,” the school said in a statement.

Hoffman put Barnett on paid administrative leave Feb. 18 after comments he made about some of the nine women who have alleged they were sexually assaulted by Colorado football players or recruits since 1997.

Pro Football

Running back Eddie George could be released next week, Tennessee Titan owner Bud Adams said at the NFL meetings at Jacksonville, Fla.

George, 30, would count $7.3 million against the salary cap this year.

*

Detroit Lion safety Brock Marion was charged in Plantation, Fla., with theft and filing a fraudulent vehicle insurance claim. He was released after posting bond.

Police said Marion reported his van stolen Feb. 11 and filed an insurance claim in which he collected about $54,247. The van was recovered in a chop shop at Albany, N.Y., as part of an auto theft investigation.

Police said Marion knew the van was taken but not stolen, and also knew who took it.

*

Lineman Jeremy Staat won’t return to the Avengers this season as he mourns the death of his friend Pat Tillman.

Staat, who was put on the Arena Football League’s suspended list, played with Tillman at Arizona State.

Tillman left the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals to join the Army in 2002 and was killed last month in Afghanistan. He was 27.

College Basketball

Oklahoma State announced that Sean Sutton will become the men’s coach at the school when his father, Eddie, leaves the Cowboys.

Sutton, 35, has been on his father’s coaching staff at Oklahoma State for 11 seasons and was appointed associate coach in 2000.

The Cowboys last season advanced to the Final Four for the second time under Eddie Sutton.

Jurisprudence

The estate of Hall of Fame center Mike Webster has sued the NFL’s retirement and disability plans for denying him a “fair” disability pension for injuries caused by his career.

According to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Webster was diagnosed with brain damage resulting from the long-term head trauma he suffered during his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1974 to 1989.

Webster was 50 when he died Sept. 22, 2002. He was survived by four children.

*

The nonprofit Razorback Foundation was dismissed from a discrimination lawsuit filed by former Arkansas men’s basketball coach Nolan Richardson.

A judge ruled there was insufficient evidence that the foundation and the university were Richardson’s joint employer.

The foundation is a fund-raising arm of the athletic department.

Richardson was fired in 2002. He sued the school and the foundation, saying he was dismissed because he is black and outspoken.

The Razorback Foundation is paying off Richardson’s $7.21-million contract at $500,000 a year through June 2008, but Richardson is contractually obligated to try to get another job. His buyout would then be reduced by whatever his new salary was.

Miscellany

NASCAR apologized to driver Carl Edwards and team owner Jack Roush for unintentionally turning on the caution lights at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., costing Edwards a victory in the truck race Friday.

Edwards slowed down, giving up the lead to eventual winner Dennis Setzer, after he saw the caution lights blink on four laps from the end of the race.

*

Police raided the hotel rooms of eight cyclists in the Giro d’Italia but found no doping substances. Hundreds of officers searched the homes of athletes, trainers and medical personnel around Italy.

Passings

Swedish tennis star Torsten Johansson, who set a record by shutting out two opponents at Wimbledon in 1946, died at 84.

Johnasson died May 14, said Mats Hasselquist, a friend and former Swedish Davis Cup captain.

*

Gary Henson, who called horse races at several West Coast tracks, including Hollywood Park, has died after a long illness. He was 60.

Henson died Saturday in his home at Renton, Wash., Hollywood Park announced.

He was the son of Harry Henson, who announced at Hollywood Park from 1958 to 1982. He is survived by his wife and a son.