Louisville Players Arrested

Five Louisville players were arrested early Wednesday after a fraternity party fight at a Louisville, Ky., night spot.

The arrests came hours after the team was honored at halftime of a Louisville-Georgetown basketball game at Freedom Hall.

The five players are Justin Thomas, B.J. Steele, Jason Hilliard, Michael Brown and Antoine Sims, police said.

Thomas, a 20-year-old junior safety, was charged with assaulting a police officer, a felony. The other players faced misdemeanor charges, as did Thomas.

The players were being held in the Jefferson County Jail and were to be arraigned today.

The Cardinals (9-2) won their first Conference USA championship and will play Colorado State in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 29.

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Oklahoma State officially announced the hiring of Dallas Cowboy assistant Les Miles as coach. In taking the job, Miles turned down a financial package worth about $700,000, saying nearly half should go toward assistant coaches’ salaries. He said he would be happy with $400,000. . . . Brigham Young introduced Chicago Bear offensive coordinator Gary Crowton as coach, ending months of speculation on whether he would succeed the retired LaVell Edwards. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Crowton’s base salary will be over $400,000, more than double what Edwards made. . . . Oklahoma and Arizona State have pulled out of their scheduled football games in 2001 and 2002. Oklahoma withdrew from its game at Arizona State in 2002 because of a scheduling conflict. Arizona State responded by backing out of what was to have been its season opener at Oklahoma next Sept. 1. . . . Florida State defensive end Jamal Reynolds won the Lombardi Award, given to the nation’s top lineman. . . . Georgia’s Jim Donnan, who was fired earlier this week, agreed to coach the Bulldogs in the Dec. 24 Oahu Bowl against Virginia. . . . Rich Ellerson, defensive coordinator at Arizona the last four seasons, was hired as head coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. . . . Jerry Kill was named coach at Southern Illinois. . . . Cincinnati kicker Jonathan Ruffin was named the winner of the Lou Groza award in West Palm Beach, Fla. Groza, a Hall of Famer, died last Thursday night. . . . . . . Swarthmore, which competed in the NCAA’s small-college Division III and had the nation’s 15th-oldest program dating to 1879, has decided to drop the sport.