HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Gypsum–Tonight, the Glenwood Demons grapple at Eagle Valley High School. The match begins at 5.
NBA/NUGGETS
Oklahoma City, OK–The Denver Nuggets’ six game winning streak came to an end last night in Oklahoma City. The Thunder beat clobbered the Nuggets 117-97. The Nuggets return home to host the Washington Wizards tomorrow night at the Pepsi Center.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL/CU BUFFS
Seattle, WA–The Colorado Buffaloes dropped a 64-54 Pac-12 game to the Washington Huskies last night in Seattle. The Buffs were held 18 points below their season average. Spencer Dinwiddie led the Buffs with 13 points as they fell to 1 and 4 in conference play, 11 and 6 overall.
BIG NAME COACH COMES TO THE RMAC
Durango–Former Arkansas Razorbacks head football coach John L. Smith is leaving the powerful SEC to compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Smith, who was recently fired by Arkansas after posting a 4 and 8 record, has been hired to take over the program at Fort Lewis College in Durango. The Skyhawks were 0 and 10 last season.
BRONCOS HIRE NEW OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
ENGLEWOOD (AP) – The Denver Broncos promoted quarterbacks coach Adam Gase to replace Mike McCoy as offensive coordinator.
Gase joined the Broncos in 2009 as wide receivers coach. He spent the last two seasons coaching the quarterbacks. McCoy left Denver to become head coach for the San Diego Chargers.
Coach John Fox said continuity was important for the Broncos, who were ranked fourth in the NFL in Peyton Manning’s first season at quarterback.
Elsewhere in sports…
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf has been moved from a central Montana drug treatment center to the state prison in Deer Lodge. Regional probation and parole administrator Dawn Handa says Leaf was terminated from the Nexus Treatment Center in Lewistown after violating the conditions of the placement, including threatening a staff member. Leaf was charged with breaking into two houses and stealing prescription painkillers. He pleaded guilty to burglary and criminal possession of dangerous drugs. He was sentenced in June to five years with the Department of Corrections with the recommendation that he spend the first nine months in a locked drug treatment facility. Leaf also faces the revocation of a 10-year probationary sentence for a 2010 drug and burglary conviction in Texas.
RENTON, Wash. (AP) – Seattle has moved quickly to hire Florida defensive coordinator Dan Quinn to the same position with the Seahawks. Seattle made the move on Thursday morning just hours after Gus Bradley left the Seahawks to become the head coach in Jacksonville. Quinn returns to Seattle after two seasons with the Gators. He was the defensive line coach for Seattle in 2009 and 2010 before leaving for the college ranks and the chance to be a coordinator. At Florida, Quinn’s units ranked eighth nationally in total defense in 2011 and fifth in 2012. The Gators allowed just 286.7 yards and 14.5 points per game last season. Quinn previously worked in the NFL as a defensive line coach in San Francisco, Miami and with the New York Jets.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A sign reading “Our Chip’s Come In” greeted Chip Kelly outside the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice facility on his first day as head coach, and a few fans drove down Pattison Avenue honking their horns to salute the hiring.
A new era for the Eagles has begun. Kelly was hired Wednesday to be the 21st coach in team history, ending an exhaustive search to replace Andy Reid. The offensive innovator was lured away from Oregon, where he went 46-7 in four seasons and turned the program into a national powerhouse. Though Kelly has no previous NFL experience, the Eagles are banking on him to turn around a franchise that has just 12 wins in the last two years and zero playoff victories since 2008. Kelly, who arrived to a hero’s welcome at a Philadelphia airport on Wednesday night, was introduced at a news conference Thursday at the team’s training complex.
