High school coaches won't bar Clemens

Roger Clemens is still welcome at a convention of Texas high school baseball coaches. The group reconsidered its invitation after Clemens was mentioned prominently in the Mitchell Report on steroids. Yesterday, the coaches said they found no reason to prevent the star pitcher from addressing their annual meeting next month. "He still wants to come," said Jim Long, president of the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association. "He said he intends on speaking." Clemens has been scheduled for the last eight months to speak to the country's largest high school baseball coaches association about pitching and conditioning. The convention is Jan. 10-12. "If something else comes up, there may be a possibility he wouldn't come," Long said. "But unless there is some concrete evidence he is guilty or if the media circus would keep him from coming . . . it would be unfair of us not to let him come." . . . The Royals signed righthanded pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao, 26, to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.

Arkansas All-America running back Darren McFadden will play in the Cotton Bowl today after the university reviewed a media report linking him and an agent to the purchase of a vehicle and found no reason to make him ineligible. Arkansas television station KARK has apologized to McFadden and his family for the report . . . Longtime Hampton coach Joe Taylor, who has had just two losing seasons in 25 years, became the new head coach at Florida A&M. The 57-year-old Taylor replaces Rubin Carter, who was fired Nov. 20 after a 3-8 season . . . Mississippi State defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson is leaving the Bulldogs to take the same position for new Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino . . . Oklahoma starting defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger won't play in the Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia tomorrow after being sent home for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.

After three straight victories over ranked teams, including wins over then-No. 4 Colorado College and then-No. 6 Notre Dame, the University of Massachusetts has risen to No. 5 in the USCHO.com/CSTV Division 1 poll, the highest ranking in program history. The Minutemen (9-3-1) are 5-1-1 against ranked teams. Northeastern (9-4-2) is ranked ninth, up two spots from last week, while Boston College (8-4-5) moved up three spots to No. 11. UMass-Lowell (9-4-4) is another fast climber, moving up six positions to No. 14 on the heels of its 6-0 victory over Maine in the championship game of the Florida College Hockey Classic. Miami (Ohio) remained No. 1 . . . The United States and Sweden advanced to the semifinals of the World Junior hockey championship in Pardubice, Czech Republic. Colin Wilson had a natural hat trick for the US in a 5-3 victory over Finland. The Americans automatically gained the semifinals by taking first place in Group B . . . Sean Curry scored the winning goal at 1:44 of overtime, lifting the Providence Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the host Springfield Falcons.

Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said he would remain in his position, nearly two weeks after saying it would be fair to evaluate his performance in a couple of weeks. "We'll keep moving in this direction," Thomas said when reminded of those comments after practice. Asked what direction that was, Thomas responded: "Me as the coach." Thomas, also the team president, was asked following practice Dec. 18 how he would evaluate the coach if he were the general manager, and if he thought a change could be necessary there. "That's a better question in a couple of weeks," Thomas said at the time. New York has not turned it around, losing four in a row to fall to 8-21 . . . Former Denver general manager Kiki Vandeweghe has joined the Nets as a special assistant to New Jersey president Rod Thorn.

North Carolina remained No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 men's college basketball poll, the spot it has held since the preseason poll. Memphis and Kansas stayed second and third for the fifth straight week. The Tar Heels (13-0), who easily beat Nevada and Valparaiso last week, received 45 first-place votes and 1,772 points from the 72-member national media panel. No. 2 Memphis (11-0), which beat Arizona, 76-63, was No. 1 on 26 ballots and had 1,744 points. Kansas (13-0) received the only other first-place vote . . . Connecticut (11-0) held the top spot in the AP women's poll for the second straight week, receiving 49 of the 50 first-place votes. Stanford, which received the other No. 1 vote, held the No. 2 position.

Lindsay Davenport got off to a good start in her first tuneup for the Australian Open, beating fellow American Laura Granville, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round of the ASB Women's Tennis Classic at Auckland, New Zealand . . . Tathiana Garbin upset second-seeded Nadia Petrova, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3, in a first-round match at the Australian women's hardcourt championships at Gold Coast . . . Robbie Maddison broke the world motorcycle jumping record, soaring 322 feet, 7 1/2 inches in Las Vegas. The previous record was 277-6 . . . Victor Navarra, a longtime firefighter who coordinated the complicated start of the New York City Marathon for a quarter-century, has died of cancer at age 55 . . . Louis Wolfson, the owner of 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed, died Sunday at Bal Harbour, Fla. He was 95. (Obituary, E5.)