Sports briefs
Pitt hires FSU assistant as coach
Mike Bell, assistant head coach at Florida State, was hired Tuesday as the fifth head coach in Pitt baseball history. Bell brings 14 years of Division I coaching experience to the Panthers. He joins Pitt after a seven-year stint at Florida State.
Bell helped lead three teams to four College World Series appearances – Tennessee (2005), Oklahoma (2010) and Florida State (2012 and 2017). He has coached eight All-Americans, had 12 Top-25 recruiting classes and coached 47 MLB Draft picks, including 25 at Florida State. In 2012, he was named the Perfect Game Assistant Coach of the Year.
Bell replaces Joe Jordano, who resigned after 21 seasons with the Panthers.
Browner charged with attempted murder
Prosecutors say former NFL cornerback Brandon Browner has been charged with trying to kill his ex-girlfriend after breaking into her Southern California home.
Browner, who won Super Bowls with the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, was arrested Sunday east of Los Angeles.
The LA County District Attorney’s Office says the 33-year-old was charged Tuesday with attempted murder, first-degree residential robbery and other counts. It wasn’t immediately clear if he has a lawyer. Arraignment is scheduled for July 30.
Prosecutors say Browner broke into the apartment, chased and dragged the woman and then tried to smother her in a carpet. Prosecutors say he also stole a Rolex watch valued at about $20,000.
Browner is from nearby Pomona and played for Oregon State University before signing with the Seahawks in 2011.
Ex-NBA player sentenced for fraud
Former NBA player Kermit Washington has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in charity donations on vacations, shopping sprees and plastic surgery for his girlfriend.
The U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release that the 66-year-old Las Vegas man was also ordered Monday to pay nearly $970,000 in restitution after pleading guilty in November to making a false statement in a tax return and aggravated identity theft.
Washington played for several NBA teams in the 1970s and 1980s. He is best known for throwing a punch that fractured Houston Rockets player Rudy Tomjanovich’s face and left him unconscious during a 1977 game. Washington was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers at the time.
Prosecutors accused Washington of using his position as representative of the National Basketball Players Association to refer professional athletes to Ronald Jack Mix, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and San Diego lawyer who specialized in workers’ compensation cases. Mix filed workers’ compensation cases for the athletes then donated about $155,000 to Washington’s charity, The Sixth Man Foundation, which did business as Project Contact Africa. Donors were told the charity was supporting work in Africa, including a medical clinic for needy families and HIV-positive children.
In his plea, Washington admitted that he diverted that money to pay himself and for personal expenses. He also admitted that he didn’t report that income to the charity on Project Contact Africa’s IRS filings for several years.
LeBron no-show
at pizza party
Hundreds of fans hoping to see new Los Angeles Laker LeBron James had to make do with free pizza instead.
James was a no-show Tuesday at the Blaze Pizza outlet in Culver City. James tweeted a day earlier about a “pizza party” at the location and fans hoped it was a hint that he might attend.
James is an investor in the pizza chain. Blaze gave away pizzas at Southern California locations Tuesday afternoon to celebrate his move to L.A.
The first fan in line at the Culver City store, Janet Raines, arrived at 7:30 a.m. and waited for hours but said she wouldn’t be disappointed if James never showed.
Raines said James probably wants to spend time with his family before the season starts.