Sports briefs 8/24/04

Baseball

The Chicago Buildings Commission declined to forbid baseball at Wrigley Field on Monday, saying inspectors could find "no evidence of shoddy repairs" at the Cubs' beloved home park. Buildings Commissioner Stan Kaderbek said private and city inspectors found no structurally significant problems that needed to be fixed. Kaderbek threatened last week to cancel Monday night's game against the Milwaukee Brewers if the ballpark didn't pass new inspections. He ordered them after he was told by a Los Angeles Times reporter, who cited sources within the Cubs organization, that repair work at Wrigley had been shoddy.

Colleges

Point guard Dez Willingham, who started 11 games as a freshman last season, won't be back for a second year at Kansas State, basketball coach Jim Wooldridge announced Monday. Willingham, from DeSoto, Texas, attended summer school but was not around for the start of classes for the fall term last Wednesday.

Willingham opened last season as a starter, scoring 13 points in his first game against Birmingham-Southern. But he was slowed by a shoulder injury and underwent surgery in April. He played in 22 games, averaging 4.4 points and 2.8 assists, hitting 36.8 percent of his 3-point shots.

Northern Illinois University announced Monday it picked a Chicago native working for the University of Notre Dame to be the Huskies' new athletic director.

NIU signed Jim Phillips, Notre Dame's senior associate athletic director, to a six-year contract.

He replaces Cary Groth, who resigned in March to become athletic director at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Phillips has worked in athletic administration at the University of Illinois, Arizona State and the University of Tennessee. He is scheduled to join the Huskies on Aug. 30.