Jackson Says He’s Retiring From ABC, for Good

When Keith Jackson was preparing to announce this year’s Rose Bowl game, the bowl championship series national championship game between Texas and USC, he implied it might be his last.

It was.

“I’m retired,” Jackson said Wednesday night.

Jackson retired once before, amid much fanfare, after the 1999 Fiesta Bowl, which was the BCS national championship game that season.

Then, six months later, he decided to come back, after then-ABC Sports president Howard Katz cut his travel schedule by telling him he would work mostly West Coast games.

Jackson was 70 then. He is now 77, has had both knees replaced, and last year had surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles’ tendon.

“This time, I know it is the right decision,” Jackson said.

-- Larry Stewart

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College football commissioners made only tweaks in the BCS formula before adjourning spring meetings in Phoenix.

Next season, with the expansion of BCS bowls from four to five, teams that are ranked in the top 14 in the final BCS standings will be eligible to be selected for an at-large berth.

In the past, teams were eligible with a top-12 ranking.

Notre Dame, a football independent, will earn an automatic BCS berth by ranking in the top eight.

BCS officials also agreed to retain the Harris Poll, which replaced the Associated Press index last year in the formula that determines which two schools play in the BCS championship game.

-- Chris Dufresne

TENNIS

Nadal’s Victory Is 43rd in a Row on Clay

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round at the Open Seat Godo at Barcelona, Spain.

It was Nadal’s 43rd consecutive victory on clay. Nadal will play Ivan Navarro Pastor for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Nicolas Massu of Chile narrowly escaped Alessio di Mauro of Italy, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-1, to reach the quarterfinals of the Grand Prix Hassan II at Casablanca, Morocco.

Massu moved on to play Nicolas Mahut, who upset fifth-seeded Arnaud Clement, 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Play begins today in the 106th Ojai Valley tournament at more than 100 public and private courts in Ojai, Ventura and Oxnard. The tournament runs through Sunday.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NCAA Puts Fresno State on 4 Years’ Probation

Fresno State’s program was put on four years’ NCAA probation for recruiting violations, and former coach Ray Lopes was also punished for the infractions.

Lopes, who resigned in March 2005, and other members of his staff made hundreds of phone calls to recruits, far exceeding the number allowed, according to the Division I Committee on Infractions.

He was given a three-year “show cause” penalty, which means he may not seek employment with another NCAA school without first appearing before the committee to determine whether his duties should be limited.

West Virginia Coach John Beilein and former UCLA coach and current ESPN analyst Steve Lavin -- both linked to the opening at North Carolina State -- each said they would remain in their current jobs and not replace Herb Sendek, who left the Wolfpack for Arizona State this month.

George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga, 56, who led the Patriots to the Final Four, got a contract extension through the 2011-12 season.

MISCELLANY

Dedeaux Is Elected to College Hall of Fame

The late Rod Dedeaux, who guided USC to 11 College World Series titles -- including an unprecedented five in a row from 1970 to 1974 -- headlined the list of coaches elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

The other coaches elected were Louisiana State’s Skip Bertman, Miami’s Ron Fraser, Texas’ Cliff Gustafson and Arizona State’s Bobby Winkles.

Players elected were Dave Winfield (Minnesota), Will Clark (Mississippi State), Bob Horner (Arizona State), Brooks Kieschnick (Texas) and Robin Ventura (Oklahoma State).

Conference player of the year Jayson Jablonsky will lead top-ranked UC Irvine (27-3) into Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball tournament semifinals tonight against second-ranked Long Beach State (22-9), and fifth-ranked UCLA (22-12) takes on third-ranked and defending NCAA champion Pepperdine (17-7) in the other semifinal. Both are at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

The MPSF tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Final Four.

As expected, NFL Network announced that Bryant Gumbel and Cris Collinsworth would be its broadcast team when the network begins televising games this season.

NFL Network has an eight-game, late-season package. Gumbel will work all eight games, but Collinsworth will miss two because of scheduling conflicts. NFL Network will hire another analyst to work those two games.

-- Larry Stewart

Broadcaster Dick Enberg will be honored May 15 by the L.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission during a golf outing, reception and dinner at Riviera Country Club.

Former Pro Bowl cornerback Deion Sanders and the Austin Wranglers announced that Sanders has joined the ownership group of the team.

FC Barcelona drew, 0-0, with AC Milan at Barcelona, Spain, to advance to the Champions League final, 1-0, on aggregate.

Barcelona, which won the first leg on France forward Ludovic Giuly’s goal at the San Siro last week, will play Arsenal at the Stade de France in Paris on May 17.

The UCLA men’s golf team won its first Pac-10 title since 2003 at the Canyons Course at Bighorn in Rancho Mirage.

The Bruins finished with a 1,420 total, 12 shots better than Washington. Arizona State (1,437) was third and USC (1,442) was fourth.

The UCLA women’s golf team won its third consecutive Pacific 10 title with a one-stroke victory over Arizona State at Oro Valley Country Club near Tucson.

UCLA, which started the final day of play with a 13-stroke lead, finished with a 54-hole total of 879. Arizona State was at 880 and USC finished third at 891.