Briefly 11/14/02

Baseball

Dusty Baker's old job was filled Wednesday. He could move into a new one soon.

The Chicago Cubs and agent Jeff Moorad are batting around compensation figures on a four-year deal for Baker, who could become the team's new manager by week's end.

"I'm sure we'll have discussions today and tonight and hopefully work our way to a conclusion shortly," Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said Wednesday from Tucson, Ariz.

Baker and the San Francisco Giants parted ways last week and the Cubs were immediately in pursuit. The Giants, who lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Angels, replaced Baker with Felipe Alou on Wednesday.

The Chicago Cubs beefed up their catching Wednesday, acquiring Damian Miller from Arizona for two minor leaguers in the first trade at the general managers' meetings in Phoenix.

Miller, 33, was a National League All-Star in 2002, batting .249 with 22 doubles, 11 homers and 42 RBI in 101 games for the Diamondbacks, who won the NL West.

The Diamondbacks acquired left-hander David Noyce and outfielder Gary Johnson.

Colleges

Two Miami (Ohio) University assistant football coaches were suspended Wednesday after one was charged with assaulting a fan and another acknowledged damaging a coaches' box at Marshall.

Coach Terry Hoeppner apologized Wednesday, saying things got out of control when fans rushed the field following Marshall's last-second, 36-34 win over its Mid-American Conference rival.

Hoeppner took two university police officers with him for extra protection on the field, anticipating a volatile situation.

Defensive coordinator Jon Wauford and linebackers coach Taver Johnson were suspended with pay while the southwest Ohio school investigates.

Wauford was led off the field in handcuffs and charged with battery, a misdemeanor, for allegedly shoving a fan who ran on the field after the game. Johnson acknowledged damaging the visiting coaches' box, Hoeppner said.

Three women refereed an NAIA game in what appears to be the first time an all-female crew officiated in men's college basketball during the regular season.

Mona Miller, Erica Bradley and Leigh Anne Webb were the officials for Martin Methodist's 82-44 victory over Atlanta Christian in Pulaski, Tenn., Tuesday night.

"We didn't know what we were doing until we did it," Martin Methodist athletic director Jeff Bain said Wednesday.

Bain recently checked with the NAIA, then the NCAA. Officials are not tracked, but the only all-female crew used before worked an exhibition game at LSU a few years ago.

Football

Carol Vermeil, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil, struggled with a robber who got away with her billfold in the city's fashionable shopping district.

Vermeil, 66, suffered only a scraped knee when the young man knocked her to the ground late Tuesday afternoon on the Country Club Plaza.

Hockey

Defenseman Brad Stuart ended his 15-game holdout with the San Jose Sharks Wednesday, signing a three-year contract worth about $5 million.

Stuart, one of hockey's top young offensive defensemen, was a restrictive free agent who sat out training camp and nearly five weeks of the regular season.

--From wire reports