Redskins make call, name Zorn coach

After a suspenseful month of exhaustive interviews involving at least 10 candidates, the Washington Redskins decided their coach would be: none of the above. Instead, it'll be first-timer Jim Zorn taking the mantle from Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs. Two weeks after being hired as the offensive coordinator, the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback was promoted to head coach last night in a surprise ending to a secretive process that tried fans' patience and produced a new favorite every week. Zorn, 54, agreed to a five-year contract and will be introduced at a news conference this afternoon. Zorn was the Seahawks' quarterbacks coach for the last seven years, helping develop Matt Hasselbeck into a Pro Bowl player, but he had never been a coordinator for an NFL team until the Redskins came calling. Now he's making the jump to head coach. "We knew of Jim's stellar offensive reputation, so we hired him as coordinator, but we also suspected he would be a strong candidate for head coach," owner Dan Snyder said. Zorn's hiring came after Snyder held marathon sessions with a variety of candidates, including Jim Mora, Steve Spagnuolo, Jim Fassel, Steve Mariucci, Ron Meeks, Pete Carroll, and Redskins assistant Gregg Williams.

Rusty Hardin, a lawyer for Roger Clemens, said the pitcher can prove he didn't attend a June 1998 party at Jose Canseco's home described by Brian McNamee in the Mitchell Report. According to McNamee, Clemens first raised the subject of steroids not long after McNamee saw Canseco and Clemens meeting during the party. Clemens's side has turned over evidence to congressional investigators, including an affidavit from Canseco, to support that the pitcher wasn't present at Canseco's home that day, Hardin said . . . Karl Ehrhardt, 83, a fixture at Mets games from 1964 through 1981 who was famous for holding up block-lettered signs after key plays that displayed his pleasure or frustration with the team, died Thursday in New York.

While overall leader Bode Miller failed to finish, Reinfried Herbst put together the two fastest times to win a World Cup slalom in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Herbst, capping his comeback from a serious knee injury, had a combined time of 1 minute 42 seconds. The Austrian defeated Manfred Moelgg of Italy by 0.65 seconds. Miller straddled a gate halfway down the slope and did not finish the first run. Miller, with 1,067 points, maintained his lead over Benjamin Raich (969). Ted Ligety of the United States was seventh.

Lindsey Vonn joined Picabo Street and Daron Rahlves as the most successful American downhill skiers, blowing away the field in Sestriere, Italy, for her fourth win in seven downhills this season. It was the ninth downhill victory of her career, matching the mark of Street and Rahlves. Vonn (1:38.86) returned to the top of the overall World Cup standings, 3 points ahead of Nicole Hosp, who finished 23d. With Miller in front in the men's overall standings, this is the first time Americans have led both the men's and women's ranks since Tamara McKinney and Phil Mahre won overall titles in 1983 . . . Sandra Kiriasis of Germany clinched her sixth straight World Cup bobsled title in doubles by winning the season finale in Winterberg, Germany, for her fifth gold in eight races. Germany's Andre Lange won his first World Cup doubles title despite finishing ninth in the final race.

After undergoing ankle surgery, New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury will miss the rest of the season, the New York Post reported . . . Joe Cannata (Wakefield, BC High) stopped 18 of 20 shots, helping the United States Under-18 team edge Russia, 3-2, in the Five Nations Cup hockey tournament in Pieksamaki, Finland . . . In tennis, top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze rallied to defeat Marion Bartoli, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0, and will face Agnes Szavay in the final of the Open Gaz de France in Paris. The seventh-seeded Szavay outlasted fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 . . . Pyro staked his claim as one of the top 3-year-old colts at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans with a powerful win in the Grade 3 $300,000 Risen Star Stakes . . . Carlos Quintana won the World Boxing Organization welterweight title, unanimously outpointing previously undefeated Paul Williams in Temecula, Calif.