Penn State hires James Franklin as football coach

More than two decades after his futile attempt to draw Penn State’s attention as a player, James Franklin was hired Saturday by the university as its football coach.

Franklin, 41, replaces Bill O’Brien, who left for the NFL’s Houston Texans coaching job on New Year’s Eve. Franklin, who won 24 games over three seasons and went to three straight bowl games at Vanderbilt, signed a six-year contract reportedly worth about $4.5 million a season. He insisted he would not use the Nittany Lions as a steppingstone.

Missouri wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham was arrested in southwest Missouri after a police officer found about a pound of marijuana in the vehicle he was in with two other men.

Green-Beckham, a sophomore who led No. 5 Missouri in receptions last season, and the other men were released without formal charges after their arrest late Friday, police in Springfield, Mo., said in a statement.

GOLF

Kirk is atop crowded leaderboard

A birdie on the final hole gave Chris Kirk a five-under 65 and the outright lead after the third round of the Sony Open at Honolulu, but just about everyone was in the mix at Waialae Country Club — even John Daly. At one point, there was a six-way tie for the lead. An hour later, 14 players were separated by a single shot. Kirk was at 12-under 198, with a one-shot lead over Harris English (67) and PGA Tour rookie Will Wilcox (64).

Daly matched the low score of the third round with a 64 and was five shots back. A dozen players were separated by three shots going into Sunday’s round, a group that includes Kapalua winner Zach Johnson, who is trying to become the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to sweep the Hawaii swing.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood birdied the last hole for a third-round 69 that gave him a one-shot lead in the Volvo Champions at Durban, South Africa. He was at 10-under 206.

ETC.

Stephen Strasburg avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $3.975-million deal with the Washington Nationals.

Colorado Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez is recovering from an emergency appendectomy after intense stomach pain sent him to a Denver hospital Friday night. “It sounds like [doctors] got it right away,” Rockies Manager Walt Weiss said of Gonzalez’s illness. “There’s not as much chance of complication when you get it early.”

Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina beat Bernard Tomic of Australia, 6-3, 6-1, in the final of the Australian Open tennis tuneup tournament at Sydney.

The Atlanta Hawks signed forward James Nunnally, from UC Santa Barbara, to a 10-day contract.

Noelle Pikus-Pace of the U.S. set a track record to finish off a World Cup skeleton victory at St. Moritz, Switzerland. It was her third victory of the season.

Germany’s Felix Neureuther overcame a big first-run deficit to win a World Cup giant slalom Adelboden, Switzerland. Neureuther’s combined time of 2 minutes 34.60 seconds was 0.10 of second ahead of first-run leader Thomas Fanara of France. Ted Ligety of the U.S. was poised to take the lead but skied out after a bumpy patch during the second run. Bode Miller skied out during the first run.

Elisabeth Goergl beat Anna Fenninger for an Austrian 1-2 finish at a women’s World Cup downhill Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria.

Race officials at the U.S. Grand Prix decided to cancel the snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle finals at Breckenridge, Colo., because of deteriorating snow conditions and dangerously high winds.

Hannah Kearney completed a World Cup moguls sweep at Park City, Utah, following up her win Thursday with a 25.21-point performance Saturday.

Sergey Ustiugov of Russia won his first World Cup cross-country sprint, and Kikkan Randall of the U.S. dominated the women’s race at Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.

At 41, Noriaki Kasai of Japan became the oldest winner of a ski jump World Cup competition as he upset the favorites in a ski-flying event at Tauplitz, Austria.