Sports briefs
Former WVU AD re-hired at Alabama
Former West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons has landed back at Alabama as a top administrator.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne said Monday that Lyons has been hired as executive deputy athletic director and chief operating officer. West Virginia fired Lyons, who had led the program for eight years, on Nov. 14 during the football program’s worst stretch in more than 40 years.
Lyons had served as Alabama’s deputy director of athletics from 2011-15.
“Shane is a well-respected administrator in college athletics who brings a variety of experiences and wealth of knowledge to Alabama,” Byrne said. “We are thrilled to have Shane back in Tuscaloosa to join our executive leadership team.”
Lyons has 35 years of experience in athletics administration and was named athletic director of the year in 2021 by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He recently served as Chair of the Division I Council and of the Division I Football Oversight Committee and was a member of the NCAA Transformation Committee among others.
Broncos release Gordon
Melvin Gordon’s butterfingers finally cost him not just his starting job in Denver but his roster spot altogether.
The Broncos waived their veteran running back Monday, a day after his fumble at the goal line proved costly in their 22-16 overtime loss to the Los Vegas Raiders that sent them tumbling into the AFC West basement at 3-7.
Gordon, who has a penchant for fumbling in crucial situations in his career, had two touchdown runs this season to go with five fumbles.
First female NCAA baseball player
Brown University freshman Olivia Pichardo is making history as the first woman to make a Division I baseball roster.
Brown coach Grant Achilles announced Monday that Pichardo made the varsity roster for the upcoming season as a walk-on utility player, saying she had the most complete walk-on tryout he’d witnessed as a coach.
Pichardo was a pitcher and outfielder for the USA Baseball Women’s National Team and played club baseball in New York. She spent two weeks with the Brown program this fall, going through practice and workouts with current players, and working out as a middle infielder, outfielder and pitcher.
“Olivia put together the most complete walk-on tryout I have seen from a player since becoming a head coach,” Achilles said in a press release.
In college basketball
Arthur Kaluma scored 18 points to lead all five Creighton starters in double figures, and the 10th-ranked Bluejays shook off a rocky start and pulled away for a 76-65 victory over No. 21 Texas Tech in the opening game of the Maui Invitational on Monday.
The Bluejays (5-0) committed a season-high 13 turnovers, all in the first half, and then their up-tempo offense started rolling.
Trey Alexander had 13 of his 17 points after halftime and Ryan Nembhard finished with 16. Baylor Scheierman had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Ryan Kalkbrenner, who rolled his ankle late in the first half and aggravated it late in the second, had 10 points.
Anthony Black dominated from inside and outside to finish with 26 points for No. 9 Arkansas, which overwhelmed Louisville in the second half for an 80-54 victory in the first round of the Maui Invitational.