Harvard's Kerr takes Duke soccer job

John Kerr Jr., who coached Harvard's men's soccer team for nine seasons, was named head coach at Duke yesterday. Kerr, who captained the Blue Devils team that won the 1986 NCAA championship, replaces John Rennie, who retired after 29 seasons with a 410-161-34 record. Kerr, 42, played professionally in Europe before performing in Major League Soccer with Dallas and the Revolution, concluding his playing career with the Boston Bulldogs in 1999. He has been among the most influential figures in local soccer, bringing both Revolution head coach Steve Nicol and assistant Paul Mariner to Boston, and also serving as director for the Greater Boston Bolts club team. Nicol coached the Bulldogs for three years before going to the Revolution, and Mariner assisted at Harvard for a year. Kerr, who scored twice in 18 appearances with the US national team, also guided the Wellesley High junior varsity in 1997 and '98, and had an 81-57-13 record at Harvard. His wife, Tracy, is a former Harvard women's team assistant and Providence College head coach.
FRANK DELL'APA

In his sixth season with Kansas, Mark Mangino was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year. Long-woeful Kansas won a school-record 11 games, had two All-Americans, and earned a spot in the Bowl Championship Series for the first time. On Jan. 3, the Jayhawks will play Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, their first major bowl since 1969. In balloting by AP college football poll voters, Mangino received 28 of a possible 58 votes, easily outdistancing Missouri's Gary Pinkel (11), Hawaii's June Jones (7), and Illinois's Ron Zook (5) . . . Rick Neuheisel, the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, confirmed that UCLA has contacted him about replacing fired head coach Karl Dorrell. Neuheisel, a former Bruin quarterback, was fired as coach at the University of Washington four years ago after being involved in an NCAA basketball betting pool scandal . . . Florida assistant football coach Doc Holliday was interviewed for the head job at West Virginia . . . Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman announced that 70-year-old Tom Osborne will remain as athletic director until June 30, 2010. Ten years removed from his celebrated coaching career, Osborne returned to the university as interim AD Oct. 16, the day after Steve Pederson was fired. Since then, Osborne has fired Bill Callahan as football coach, hired Bo Pelini, and helped the Huskers in recruiting. Osborne, whose annual salary is $250,000, oversees a 23-sport program that runs on a $66.7 million budget.

New York Knicks fans angry over the team's losing streak rallied outside Madison Square Garden, holding aloft a giant pink slip and calling on Garden management to fire coach Isiah Thomas. Chanting "Fire Isiah! He's got to go! Goodbye!" two dozen irate fans signed the 8-by-4-foot pink placard urging Garden chief executive James L. Dolan to dump the coach, whose team is 8-17 after beating Cleveland last night. Among the protesters was noted civil rights lawyer and longtime Knicks fan Norman Siegel, who criticized Knicks management for ordering a fan with a "Fire Isiah" sign to leave his seat at a game Monday night. At the rally, signs read "Dump Isiah" and "Restore Knicks Pride." . . . Timberwolves center Theo Ratliff had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, and his recovery is expected to keep him out for another six weeks. The former Celtic has missed 17 straight games because of the injury.

Tiger Woods, Lorena Ochoa, and Jay Haas were voted players of the year on their respective tours by the Golf Writers Association of America, the second straight year they won the awards. Woods, who has won the award a record nine times in the last 11 years, had seven victories on the PGA Tour, captured his 13th career major at the PGA Championship, and easily won the inaugural FedEx Cup by winning the final two playoff events. He received 205 votes, with the other five going to Phil Mickelson. Ochoa won by the same margin over Suzann Pettersen. The 26-year-old Mexican rose to No. 1 in the world, won her first major in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews, and finished her LPGA Tour season with eight victories and more than $4 million. Haas became the first senior tour player to win the GWAA award in consecutive years since Hale Irwin in 1997-98.

Carolina Hurricanes forward Craig Adams was suspended by the NHL two games without pay for hitting Toronto's Alex Steen with his stick. Adams was assessed a minor penalty for high-sticking after hitting the Maple Leafs forward at 16:05 of the third period Tuesday night. Adams will miss tonight's game at Florida and tomorrow's game at Tampa Bay. He will forfeit $6,417.12 . . . Lefthanded reliever Ron Mahay and the Kansas City Royals have reached an agreement on an $8 million, two-year contract . . . Catcher Michael Barrett and the San Diego Padres have agreed to a $3.5 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Barrett can make another $750,000 in performance bonuses . . . Former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch was admitted to a Madrid hospital after a dizzy spell and was in stable condition. The 87-year-old Spaniard was taken to the Hospital Clinico with high blood pressure but was responding well to treatment . . . American cyclist Floyd Landis cannot compete in France until 2009 even if his two-year doping ban is lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sports. The French Anti-Doping Agency said it had imposed its own ban, preventing Landis from riding in France until Jan. 31, 2009 - ruling him out of next year's Tour de France. Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour title after testing positive for synthetic testosterone, has already been suspended until that date by the US Anti-Doping Agency.