Arizona Has Timetable

Arizona wants to hire a successor to fired coach John Mackovic by the Dec. 1 start of recruiting. “It is my hope that we would have somebody in place certainly by that time, maybe even sooner,” Athletic Director Jim Livengood said. “But we’re going to find the best person available.”

Defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz, who took over as interim coach Sunday when Mackovic was let go after a 1-4 start to the season, said he hoped to be a candidate for the job beyond this season’s remaining seven games.

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Las Vegas Bowl officials announced that the Pacific 10 Conference will continue to send a team to the game through the 2005 season. The game, which will be on Christmas Eve this year, pits the Pac-10’s fifth-place finisher against the Mountain West Conference’s second-place team.

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Attorneys for the Atlantic Coast Conference and Miami, which plans to leave the Big East to join the ACC, asked a judge to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds a lawsuit filed in Connecticut by four Big East football schools accusing Miami and the ACC of participating in a conspiracy to weaken the Big East.... Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter said Hakim Hill will start at tailback Saturday when the Sun Devils play host to USC.... Virginia Tech defensive end Cols Colas was suspended for Saturday’s game at Rutgers for an unspecified violation of team rules.