The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • C5

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 Orlando Sentinel Sports Daily C5 National repor STATE REPORT FIU hires Norfolk's Anthony Evans Last year, when FIU was looking for a new basketball coach, Norfolk State's Anthony Evans was a finalist for the position, but the job went to Richard Pitino. Turns out, Evans only had to wait ayear to get the position. FIU athletics director Pete Garcia hired Evans to succeed Pitino as the school's next basketball coach Monday. He is scheduled to be introduced during a press conference at 2 p.m. today.

Evans is best known for Norfolk State's first-round win over Missouri in the 2012 NCAA Tournament The Spartans' upset marked only the fifth time a No. 15 seed had defeated a No. 2 seed in tournament history. In his six years at Norfolk State, Evans amassed a 99-92 record. While Evans was the favorite to get the job upon Pitino's departure, FIU also interviewed Florida assistant John Pelphrey, VCU assistant Mike Rhoades and Maryland assistant Scott SpineDi.

A Brooklyn, NY, native and a 1994 graduate of New York's St Thomas Aquinas College, Evans started his coaching career as an assistant in the community college and Division II ranks. His first head coaching job came in 1999 when he took over at Ulster County Community College, 90 miles north of Manhattan. In 2001, he became the head coach at SUNY-Delhi. During those years, Evans earned a reputation for his solid recruiting in New York City. In 2003, he joined the Norfolk State staff as an assistant coach and earned the Spartans' head coaching job four years later.

Dieter Kurtenbach FSU REPORT Fisher: Defense met its spring goals TALLAHASSEE The throw was a difficult one. The decision to make it looked, at first, questionable. But when Florida State redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston fired a hard back-shoulder pass to junior Rashad Greene as a cornerback fell off him, he made the improbable appear possible. He threw the perfect pass. Coach Jimbo Fisher later called Winston's gutsy spring-game toss that resulted in Greene's subsequent 20-yard touchdown reception the type that professional signal-callers make with ease.

"One of the reasons why we're getting better at that, it has to do with our defense," Fisher added. With the arrival of new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt and his aggressive system that is predicated on blitzing from the secondary and jamming receivers at the line of scrimmage, quarterbacks and their pass-catchers are benefiting from going against a challenging unit. "We're getting a lot more jam-press coverage from defensive backs," Fisher said. "You're seeing it every day and we're getting better at playing it. Defense, we're really picking up what we're doing and the new schemes that we've added." At the close of FSU's spring practices, Fisher and his defenders said the unit fulfilled its pre-spring mission.

The group began the month of workouts trying to learn new terminology and executing a changed scheme as near flawlessly as possible. "We accomplished a whole lot," cornerback RJ. Williams said. "We've got some more to go over, but we accomplished a lot this spring." Coley Harvey Boise State suing to dodge exit fee Boise State is asking a court to rule it does not owe a $5 million fee for calling off its plans to join the Big East School officials told the Idaho Statesman they filed the lawsuit after they were told by representatives of the newly named American Athletic Conference the league intended to sue the university. Boise State argues the American Athletic Conference is a different organization than it ever intended to join.

"Boise State entered into that agreement in good faith and with a great degree of optimism, but the conference we agreed to join simply no longer exists Boise State president Bob Rustra told the newspaper. Boise State and San Diego State were slated to join the Big East in football only in July. UCF, Houston, Memphis and SMU were also slated to join the league in all sports, marking sweeping expansion for a league recovering from key defections. However, the Big East later lost Rutgers to the Big Ten and Louisville to the ACC. Notre Dame announced its plans to leave the league and start a new partnership with the ACC.

Boise State and San Diego State then decided to stick with the Mountain West instead of joining the Big East The moves prompted the Catholic 7 Georgetown, DePauL Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, St John's and Villanova to leave the league. The basketball-heavy schools argued the conference was skewing heavily in favor of football schools' needs and opted to break off on their own Staff report SEC REPORT SEC poised to launch TV network For fans, it will likely be must-see TV For the SEC and ESPN, it will likely be a cash cow. Officials from the SEC and ESPN will reportedly announce the creation of a new national television network during a news conference soon. As first reported by Sports Business Daily, the new network will make its official debut in August 2014. According to the report, the SEC will work with closely with ESPN during the next 15 months as it begins the process of setting up a home base and finding distributors for the network.

ESPN Regional Television in Charlotte, N.C., is rumored to be a potential hub for the SEC network. The deal has been in the works for quite some time, but it wasn't until recently that the league was able to hammer out the final details, which included buying back its third-tier television rights from IMG College, Learfield Sports and CBS Collegiate Sports Properties. Retaining those rights was a major sticking point and now allows ESPN to broadcast every SEC football game with the exception of the game of the week typically featured on CBS. The new network would be similar to the others created by the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences. In those cases, both leagues and its members have seen a big financial windfall from the network deals.

The SEC's current TV rights deal with ESPN and CBS pays the league $205 million annually, which breaks down to $14.6 million per school. While financial details were not released, it's likely this payday will be much larger. MattMurschel UCF REPORT Georgia prep point guard commits ORLANDO UCF received a commitment from Nor-cross (Ga) Brandon Goodwin, the Georgia 6A player of the year who coaches hope will fill the Knights' immediate need for a true point guard. Goodwin, who led Norcross to the 6A state tide, scoring 22 points in the championship game, committed on Sunday after a weekend visit to UCF. He was also being pursued by Ole Miss, Auburn, Houston and Western Kentucky.

"It's been a long ride but I'm committing to the University of Central Florida UCF Knights, very excited for the future," Goodwin tweeted Sunday. The addition of the 6-foot, 165-pound Goodwin will complete the UCF backcourt and allow rising seniors Isaiah Sykes and Calvin Newell to move to their natural off-guard positions. Sykes announced Monday he's staying at UCF after exploring his NBA Draft options. He used his Twitter account to thank fans for their support while he evaluated potentially leaving school early. UCF used a rotation at the point this season that included rising sophomore Daiquan Walker, Sykes and Newell.

This move adds more depth to the backcourt, while creating competition with Walker at the point-guard spot. Rod Days has asked for his release and will transfer, freeing up a scholarship to add Goodwin to a recruiting class that includes Steven Haney Justin McBride and junior college Eugene McCrory, who earned most outstanding player honors in leading his team to the junior-college national championship. Paul Tenorio UM REPORT Larldn remains undecided on future CORAL GABLES One by one, major-college underclassmen have announced intentions for the upcoming NBA draft The list is growing, but Miami sophomore guard Shane Larldn remains on the fence. He's hearing rumors so he used Twitter to address the matter. "I have NOT made a decision.

Whenever I make one ill be sure to let EVERYBODY knowSmh lol all other rumors are Larldn posted early Monday afternoon. Underclassmen have until today to withdraw their names from the pool of draft-eligible players. Larkin, an Orlando Dr. Phillips High graduate, told the Sun Sentinel before the ACC Tournament that he planned to return to Miami. Larldn later said he would wait until after the season ended.

Larldn was named ACC player of the year and was a second-team Ail-American. UM coach Jim Larranaga previously told the Sun Sentinel he supports Larkin, and said he has a bright future regardless of whether he stays. "The kid is a great player and he's a great kid and he's very smart," Larranaga said. "Whatever he has to do, whether he's here at Miami or in the NBA, he's going to figure out a way to help his team win." If there are questions about Larldn's stock and ability at the next level, they surround his 5-foot-ll frame. "Well, he's not going to grow," Larranaga said.

"He's going to be that height no matter when he gets drafted. So that's not an issue. It's up to an NBA franchise to decide is he good enough. Is he what we want?" Michael Casagrande Not now. And she and her husband had plans to run the upcoming New York City Marathon, but they might cancel those plans, too.

She says she feels too vulnerable and unsafe now. The terrorists win again. "What are you going to do?" Jon Hughes asks. "How are you going to watch every fan and secure every inch of sidewalk?" You can't It's impossible. There's no defense against insanity.

Mass chaos. Shattered windows. Bombs shaking buildings. Bloody corpses being taken away on stretchers. Panicked people running for their lives.

We're not just spectators or participants anymore; we're potential targets. The sports world changed on Monday and it will never again be the same. mbianchitribune.com. Follow him on Twitter BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m.

on 740AM. their hotel room about a block away. He wanted to get cleaned up before taking part in the post-race festivities. The Hugheses, like the Murphys, were back in their hotel room when they heard the loud, earth-shaldng explosion from the first blast "It sounded like the boom from a really bad Florida thunderstorm," Danielle Murphy says, "but I thought to myself, Wait a minute, there's no thunder in Jon Hughes, on the upper floor of his nearby hotel, looked out the window and couldn't believe the surreal scene. "It reminded me of what you saw at 9-11 when the World Trade Center came down," Hughes said.

"People were just sprinting away down side streets to get away from the blasts. It's sad that in this world we live in, people are devious enough to do something like this at an event like the Boston Marathon." A day of celebration turned to a day of devastation. Danielle Murphy had and the involved individuals are in the best position to say we've already been punished enough." The school already withheld itself from two football postseasons and argues that should be punishment enough given the NCAA's admittedly flawed investigation. The enforcement staff's response to UM's March 29 motion admitted further mistakes in the investigative process. It agreed to suppress testimony of a former athlete the school recently questioned "in an abundance of caution." The NCAA also didn't challenge claims enforcement staff members "did misspeak" in the questioning of former basketball coaches Haith and Morton.

But it disagrees with UM when it says those missteps were done with "unethical intent" The NCAA also challenges Miami's accusations that the NCAA leaked some information to the media It also argues Miami's motion contained several non-procedural arguments fit for a hearing, not a reason for dismissal. Voicing these "evidentiary facts" before the hearing could only prejudice the COI. Brown said he thinks even Miami would be surprised by a complete dismissal of the case, but doesn't see any issue with making the attempt given "a reasonable basis for the argument "I think what will likely happen is that there will be a hearing," Brown said. "Violations will be found, and I base that on the fact that Miami has already withheld itself and withheld student-athletes, but the additional sanctions that the committee would impose upon the university will be less than what otherwise would have been the case had these procedural issues not occurred and would largely encompass what Miami's already done." mcasagrande tr ibune.com BIANCHI Continued from Page CI from our own country. It seemed like we were witnessing a scene from some faraway war zone in the Middle East Bomb blasts.

Bloodied bodies being wheeled from the wreckage. People dead. Others maimed. Shocked, grief-stricken faces. Was this Boston or Beirut? "It always crosses your mind that this could happen at a sporting event," says Jon Hughes, a longtime local running aficionado, owner of the Track Shack, one of the organizers of Orlando's Disney Marathon and a participant in Monday's Boston Marathon.

"You always imagine it would happen at a football game because you have a captive audience such a large number of people in a contained area" Hughes finished running the Boston Marathon on Monday just 30 minutes before the first blast and immediately texted his wife, Betsy, to meet him back at AWARD Continued from Page CI with golfer Bobby Jones in 1930. Peyton Manning never won the Heisman Trophy (first awarded in 1935) but did win the Sullivan in 1997. Wilma Rudolph ('61), Mark Spitz ('71), Bruce Jenner (76), Carl Lewis ('81), Jackie Joyner-Kersee ('86) and Michael Phelps (2003) have won the award named after the AAU's founder. So did Jim Abbott ('87), the only baseball player to take home the Sullivan "I felt a little bit as an outsider at that ceremony," said Abbott, the former major-leaguer who was born without a right hand. "I always associated the award with great athleticism, not something you always associate with pitchers.

"Just to be there among those great athletes was a great memory." Like Abbott, gymnast Shawn Johnson was shocked, humbled and gra happy tears in her eyes as she and her husband ran in their first Boston Marathon. Patriots Day is a state holiday in Boston to commemorate the first batde of the American Revolution. Businesses and schools are closed and downtown Boston becomes one humongous block party centered around the marathon. People tailgate and celebrate along the 26.2-mile marathon route that meanders through the quaint and quiet suburbs of Boston. Fans line the streets and cheer on the runners, giving them orange slices, coconut water, Gatorade and inspiration.

Students at the prestigious, all-girls Wellesley College even hold up signs that say things like "I major in kissing" as they give out motivational smooches to the willing male mara-thoners in the field. "There's so much camaraderie, it's amazing," Danielle Murphy says. "It's such a happy event" Or at least it was. Danielle says she'll probably never run Boston again. MORE ABOUT THE What: The 83rd annual Sullivan Award, which is bestowed by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and goes to the nation's most outstanding amateur athlete.

Swimmer Missy Franklin, weightlifter Darren Barnes and three-sport athlete Liz Brenner are finalists. When: 7:45 tonight "These athletes are so incredible. It means so much to be up there with them." Former Orlando Magic guard J.J. Redick won the Sullivan in 2005 while at Duke. "I wasn't wearing as nice of a suit as I am right now," Redick said last week after returning to the Amway Center with the Milwaukee Bucks.

"I remember slder Bode Miller. He had some sponsors, and he was in this really nice designer suit, and I had my Men's Wearhouse MIAMI Continued from Page CI Signed by Jonathan Duncan, the NCAA's interim vice president for enforcement, the rebuttal states UM's dismissal request was "largely based on assumptions, false accusations, misleading statements and meritless claims." Ridpath, a former compliance director at Marshall and Weber State uni-versities, called these claims "disingenuous in many ways." "I find it so funny that they're using some of the same rhetoric that they've often battled against," said Ridpath, an outspoken opponent of the NCAA's enforcement process. "But I think, based on what the NCAA's admitted to already and how they've messed up the investigation, it's pretty hollow to hear that the NCAA's offended by anything when that whole process has been pretty offensive over the years doing some of the same things they're accusing Miami of doing." Brown, an attorney specializing in NCAA compliance matters, said the last few months of the Miami case have piqued the interest of those in his profession. He said during his 15 years as an attorney, he has heard about other schools and individuals seeking to dismiss certain aspects of cases, but this one is different. Miami wants the whole case dismissed, but that's just one of the ways Brown said this matter is unique.

The document leaks are also of interest, he said, because some NCAA cases are never publicly known until the COI hearing. "A lot of this is prehearing positioning by both of the parties," he said. "It's a prehearing strategy by Miami and the involved individuals to get their procedural and fairness concerns to the forefront in the committee's mind so that whatever is found, if any, as in violation of NCAA bylaws that Miami cious after winning in 2008. "I'll walk by the trophy in my house, and it will say: 'Sullivan Award, Shawn and I'm like, 'I can't believe that' It's like a pinch-me moment," Johnson said. "Seeing that I had gone to the Olympics and won a few silver medals, it was a validating and honoring time to feel like people still recognized my hard work.

"It's been one of, if not the most memorable award I've been given." After finalists are chosen, the Sullivan winner is selected based on the public's vote, the U.S. National Governing Bodies and Division I athletics directors and sports information directors. The first time the public vote was considered was 2004, when gymnast Paul Hamm topped Phelps and former USC QB MattLeinart "It is a whirlwind, and when you're going through it, it's hard to recognize what it really means," Hamm said. "But when I look back, it's crazy. AWARD Where: AAU national headquarters, Orlando Admission: The event is not open to the public.

The Buzz: The ceremony can be viewed at aau. Three winners of the award have been from Florida: Frank Shorter (1972), Charlie Ward ('93) and Tim Tebow (2007). suit on." The Sullivan winner receives a bronze trophy depicting a runner carrying a laurel branch. "I keep it up in a cabin that we have in Northern Michigan by the fireplace mantel," Abbott said. "It's one of the few things I display.

It really is a beautiful trophy." Some lucky winner will add that to his or her collection tonight azunztribune.com.