Report: Tomlin agrees to coach Steelers

Football

Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin accepted the Pittsburgh Steelers' coaching job last night and was working out a four-year contract he hoped to complete today, people close to the search told the Associated Press. They requested anonymity because the Steelers have asked all parties involved in the search not to speak to reporters until they can make the announcement, which could come today or tomorrow. Tomlin is expected to make around $2.5 million per year, the going rate of late for first-time NFL coaching hires. Former Steelers coach Bill Cowher resigned Jan. 5 following 15 seasons after apparently rejecting a $6 million per year contract extension offer earlier this year. Tomlin would become the first black coach in the Steelers' 74-season history and the sixth in the NFL. The Steelers issued a statement saying they had not concluded a deal. The 34-year-old Tomlin, a defensive coordinator for only one season, was a Tampa Bay assistant for five seasons.

Jim Mora agreed to become an assistant head coach for the Seattle Seahawks' less than three weeks after being fired as coach of the Atlanta Falcons. The team said Mora's title is assistant head coach/secondary. Mora, the 45-year-old son of former NFL coach Jim Mora, went 26-22 in three seasons with the Falcons, but was fired Jan. 1 following another second-half collapse . . . Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick wasn't carrying marijuana when stopped by security last week at Miami International Airport, ESPN reported. Citing anonymous NFL sources, ESPN reported Vick wasn't carrying marijuana or any other illegal substance. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wouldn't comment on the report. Last Wednesday, Vick reluctantly surrendered a water bottle to security at the Miami airport. The bottle was found to have a compartment that contained "a small amount of dark particulate and a pungent aroma closely associated with marijuana," the police report said.

Baseball

Chase Utley proved this weekend he's not afraid of commitment. One day after getting married, Utley agreed to an $85 million, seven-year contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. Utley hit .309 last season with 40 doubles, 32 homers, 102 RBIs, and 131 runs. The second baseman also had a 35-game hitting streak that tied for the 10th longest in major league history. After making $500,000 last year, Utley gets a $2 million signing bonus and salaries of $4.5 million this year, $7.5 million in 2008, $11 million in 2009, and $15 million in each of the final seasons. Utley, who must pass a physical for the deal to be finalized, would have been eligible for free agency after the 2009 season . . . Vern Ruhle, a former major league pitcher and coach for several teams, died after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 55. Late in the 1975 season, Ruhle, then with the Tigers, broke the left hand of Red Sox rookie slugger Jim Rice with a pitch, an injury that prevented Rice from participating in the playoffs. Obituary, Page E8.

Winter sports

Julia Mancuso made history when she made it to the podium after a giant slalom in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The Olympic giant slalom champion was the runner-up, four-100ths of a second behind Italy's Karen Putzer, for her fifth straight top-three finish. Mancuso's streak is the best by an American woman since 1983, when Tamara McKinney had four top-three finishes -- including three wins -- in five days. No US woman had reached the podium in five straight races. Putzer skied through thick fog for her first victory since the 2002-03 season. Mancuso gained points on the women ahead of her in the overall standings, as Marlies Schild and Nicole Hosp failed to finish. Schild leads the standings with 881 points, Hosp has 828, and Mancuso 794 . . . Kikkan Randall earned the first World Cup cross-country podium by a US woman, finishing third in a 1.2-kilometer race won by Italy's Arianna Follis in Rybinsk, Russia . . . American bobsledder Steven Holcomb won his second straight four-man World Cup race. Holcomb and teammates Pavle Jovanovic, Steve Mesler, and Brock Kreitzburg -- who also won last week's event in Cortina d'Ampezzo -- finished in 1:43.09 in Igls, Austria.

Basketball

New Jersey Nets forward Richard Jefferson, bothered by ankle pain since before the start of the season, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle today. The team gave no timetable for his return. Jefferson has missed six of New Jersey's 40 games and is averaging 16 points and 4.5 rebounds . . . In an open letter of apology to fans and his team, Denver Nugget Carmelo Anthony said he'll be a better player and a better person when he returns tonight from a 15-game suspension for fighting . . . Miami rookie Robert Hite was charged with driving under the influence early yesterday, and missed the Heat's game against Dallas . . . Connecticut Sun point guard Erin Phillips will likely miss the upcoming WNBA season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee Saturday while playing in a WNBL game in Australia.

Miscellany

Freddy Adu scored twice as the United States beat host Panama, 5-0, to win its qualifying group for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, which kicks off in June. Robbie Rogers, Johann Smith, and Jonathan Villanueva also scored for the US, which qualified for this year's tournament in Canada when Haiti upset Guatemala, 2-0, in the first match of the doubleheader. The Americans will be making their sixth straight appearance in the tournament, formerly known as the FIFA World Youth Championship . . . Kris Versteeg scored his team-leading 21st goal and Philippe Sauve stopped 21 shots as the host Providence Bruins increased their points streak to a season-high eight games (7-0-1) with a 3-2 victory over the Portland Pirates.