Nee Gets Fired After 14 Nebraska Seasons

Nebraska Coach Danny Nee was fired Monday after his team’s worst showing in 10 seasons. Athletic director Bill Byrne said the university will pay Nee about $400,000 to buy out the three years left on his contract.

Nee, who became Nebraska’s winningest coach earlier in the season, had a 254-189 record in 14 seasons--which had been the longest stint of active Big 12 Conference basketball coaches.

Nebraska, however, failed to win a conference game on the road, lost to Baylor in the first round of the Big 12 tournament, and in finishing with an 11-19 record didn’t qualify for a postseason tournament for the second consecutive season.

Nee, knowing his job was in jeopardy, made a late-season push to come back by sending a letter to season-ticket holders pointing out the program’s strong points during his career--which included seven seasons with 20 or more victories and five NCAA tournament appearances.

*

Air Force Coach Reggie Minton will not have his contract renewed by the school. Minton never had a winning record in 16 seasons in which he was 150-295. Minton, despite an 8-20 record this season, shared the Mountain West Conference coach of the year honor with Nevada Las Vegas’ Bill Bayno. . . . Sacramento State Coach Tom Abatemarco has resigned, according to Sacramento Bee. Abatemarco reportedly had been under pressure to resign because of strained relationships with players. Fourteen players left the program during Abatemarco’s two seasons, in which he had a record 12-41. Sacramento State had gone 20-120 in five previous seasons. . . . Marianne Stanley resigned as women’s coach at California. Stanley was 35-75 in four seasons at California, including 11-17 this season. She previously coached at Old Dominion, where she won national championships in 1979, 1980, and 1985, USC (1989-93) and Stanford (1995-96, during Tara VanDerveer’s one-season absence to coach the U.S. Olympic team).

*

Two more victories might have been enough to save Oregon State Coach Eddie Payne’s job, athletic director Mitch Barnhart said. Payne was fired the day after Oregon State completed a 13-16 season. The Beavers had defeated Pacific 10 co-champion Arizona March 2, but an overtime loss to Arizona State and 18-point loss to Oregon cost them a probable bid to the National Invitation Tournament and the first winning record in Payne’s five seasons. Asked Monday whether Payne would have been retained for the final year of his contract had the Oregon State made it to the NIT, Barnhart said, “I think that’s accurate.” Payne had a 52-88 record at Oregon State, including 1-11 against Oregon. . . . Jim Wooldridge, most recently a Chicago Bull assistant, will be introduced as coach at Kansas State at a news conference today at Manhattan, Kan. Wooldridge, 44, replaces Tom Asbury, who resigned last week after posting an 85-88 record in six seasons. Wooldridge had a 229-147 record as a coach at Louisiana Tech, Southwest Texas and Central Missouri State. His record at the Division I level is 98-99.

*

Cincinnati center Kenyon Martin, who will not play in the NCAA tournament after suffering a broken leg, and Tennessee forward Tamika Catchings are the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Naismith men’s and women’s players of the year. Stanford’s Mike Montgomery and Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma are the men’s and women’s coaches of the year. . . . Martin was also named to the Associated Press All-America first team along with Iowa State forward Marcus Fizer, Indiana guard A.J. Guyton, Texas center Chris Mihm and Notre Dame forward Troy Murphy. Fresno State guard Courtney Alexander, the nation’s leading scorer at 25.3 points a game, was a second-team selection. , . . The status of Arizona’s Loren Woods for the NCAA tournament remained uncertain despite the selection committee being told to assume the 7-foot-1 center would not play because of a back injury. Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood said that he told the committee to make its decision on the assumption that Woods would not be able to play throughout the tournament. But Livengood said a final determination on Woods’ playing status has not been made. Woods was sidelined the last five games of the regular season.

*

Duke, Michigan State, Stanford and Arizona, the No. 1-seeded teams in the regionals of the NCAA tournament, held the top four spots in the final Associated Press college basketball poll of the season. Duke (27-4) jumped from third to No. 1--the second consecutive season it finished on top of the rankings.

* NIT SCHEDULE, PAGE 10

* WOMEN’S SCHEDULE, PAGE 10