Sports briefs
W&J soccer coaching change
Scott Gerseny has resigned as the head women’s soccer coach at Washington & Jefferson to pursue other coaching opportunities. The school announced that Kendra Jones will serve as the interim head coach for the 2019 season.
“We wish Scott (Gerseny) and his family well. He continued to elevate our program in a number of ways and we thank him for his impact,” said Scott McGuinness, director of athletics.
Jones was an intern assistant coach last season after joining the W&J staff in April of 2018. W&J finished the 2018 season with a 9-9-2 record, which included a 6-2 mark in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. The Presidents qualified for the PAC Tournament for the fifth straight year and also appeared in the ECAC Tournament.
“Kendra has worked extremely hard in her years as our intern assistant coach,” McGuinness said. “This is an opportunity that she has earned. She has great international experience, both as a player and a coach, and she is excited to lead this talented group of women for the 2019 season.”
Jones played collegiately at a pair of Division I schools, competing for two years at both American University (2009-11) and Villanova (2011-13).
Bruschi doing ‘much better’
Former New England Patriots linebacker and ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi says he’s doing “much better” after suffering a second stroke.
In an Instagram post on Monday, Bruschi says he knew what was happening immediately last Thursday when he lost use of his left arm, began slurring his speech and his wife noticed his face was drooping. An ambulance took Bruschi to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, Mass.
The Instagram post includes a list of the several warning signs of a stroke that should prompt an immediate call to 911.
The 46-year-old Bruschi had a stroke in February 2005 days after the Patriots’ third Super Bowl win .
Kings coach: Sex
assault claim baseless
Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton says sexual assault allegations against him are not backed up by facts and are designed to attract media attention.
Walton made his comments in a court brief filed Wednesday in response to a lawsuit by former sportscaster Kelli Tennant. The lawsuit is filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, and the Sacramento Kings and the NBA are jointly investigating the accusations.
Walton’s court filing claims Tennant filed a lawsuit nearly five years after the alleged assault, which the brief calls a “pleasant encounter,” after she quit two jobs and needed money.
Tennant has said Walton attacked her in 2014 when he was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, but she was too afraid to file charges though she did confide in others at the time.
“I was scared,” she said. “I felt coming forward would jeopardize every aspect of my life.”
Tennant calls Walton a former longtime friend and mentor who wrote the foreword to a book she had written. When the coach was on a Warriors road trip to Los Angeles, she met him in the lobby of his Santa Monica hotel and he invited her to his room, she said. They discussed the book, and Walton allegedly grabbed her.