Sports briefs 1/18/05

Basketball

* Lakers star Kobe Bryant will be sidelined at least two more weeks with a severely sprained right ankle.

Team spokesman John Black said before the Lakers faced the Utah Jazz on Monday night that the NBA's second-leading scorer was examined earlier in the day by team physician Dr. Steve Lombardo and foot specialist Philip Kwong.

A CT scan confirmed there was no fracture.

"Kobe will be re-evaluated in approximately one week," Black said. "He has made improvement. He still can't put weight on his right foot."

Black said there was no target date for Bryant's return.

Colleges

* Texas hired former Auburn defensive coordinator Gene Chizik as co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach on Monday.

Chizik replaces Greg Robinson, who resigned last week to become head coach at Syracuse, Longhorns coach Mack Brown said.

Texas also hired Oscar Giles, a former Longhorn and NFL defensive end, to coach defensive ends. He replaces Dick Tomey, who was named head coach at San Jose State in December. Giles previously was a graduate assistant at Texas.

Chizik spent three seasons (2002-04) at Auburn and was winner of the 2004 Broyles Award honoring the nation's top assistant coach.

The Tigers (13-0) finished No. 2 in the final rankings behind national champion Southern California, but Chizik's defense was No. 1 in fewest points allowed -- 9.6 per game.

* Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick was cleared Monday to rejoin the team after being suspended this season because of a night of drinking with underage girls.

The younger brother of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick joined his teammates for a meeting, re-enrolled at the university and started classes. The university and head coach Frank Beamer cleared the 20-year-old to return to all football-related activities after being suspended for the fall semester.

Football

* Baltimore defensive coordinator Mike Nolan accepted the San Francisco 49ers' head coaching position Monday and began to negotiate a contract to take over the team that had the NFL's worst record last season.

Nolan, a longtime coordinator for four teams who has never been a head coach, will replace Dennis Erickson, fired earlier in the month after going 9-23 in two seasons out of the playoffs. San Francisco went 2-14 this season.

After wowing 49ers owner John York in an interview Thursday, Nolan accepted the offer Monday and flew to York's home in Ohio to work out a contract.

Nolan earned the chance to follow in the footsteps of his father, Dick, who went 54-53-5 in eight seasons as the 49ers' coach from 1968-75, winning three straight division championships and reaching two NFC title games while getting the first playoff wins in franchise history.

Mike Nolan, 45, has been in charge of the Ravens' powerful defense since 2001

Golf

* Michelle Wie accepted an invitation Monday to play in the LPGA Championship, making it likely the 15-year-old golfer will compete in all four of the women's majors this year.

Wie and other top amateurs like Paula Creamer and Jane Park have not played the McDonald's LPGA Championship because it was for professionals. But the tournament expanded its field from 144 to 150 players, offering one of those additional spots to a "leading amateur."

Tennis

* U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova tested positive for the banned stimulant ephedrine during an exhibition tournament last month, a Belgian sports minister said Monday.

The Russian was tested during the Dec. 18-19 Women's Tennis Trophy event in Charleroi, said Claude Eerdekens, a regional sports minister. Kuznetsova's backup sample hasn't been tested; athletes aren't penalized without two positive samples.

"We saw it was ephedrine and we saw it was an illegal product," he said by telephone from his home in Andenne.

Because the second sample's result isn't known, Eerdekens said, "We do not want to prejudge her innocence."

The minister said in the interview the report he received did not mention that Kuznetsova asked for a medical exemption for the substance.

Ephedrine is often contained in cold remedies. It also is used in weight-reducing formulas, and some athletes take it to get a short-term energy burst and to increase alertness.

On Saturday, Eerdekens said a player at the Charleroi tournament had tested positive but did not name the player or substance.

Kuznetsova is seeded fifth at Australian Open and defeated Jessica Kirkland of the United States 6-1, 6-1 in the first round Monday.