Tony Barbee was hired Monday as the new basketball coach at Texas El Paso.
Barbee, 35, spent the last six years as an assistant at Memphis. He will take over for Doc Sadler, who left last week to coach Nebraska.
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UTEP Hires Barbee as Basketball Coach
NEWSWIRE
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday August 18, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
Baseball coach: In a Newswire item in Sports on Tuesday, Dan Bridges was identified as Cal State Los Angeles' new baseball coach. Bridges is the athletic director who hired new coach Patrick Shine, a former UCLA and UC Irvine assistant.
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Barbee is the first black head coach at Texas El Paso, formerly Texas Western, a school credited with helping break down the color barrier in college sports. Barbee said his first priority was continuing "a rich and winning tradition."
He has already spoken to Don Haskins, the coach who led the 1966 Miners to the NCAA championship and made history by starting five black players in the title game against an all-white Kentucky squad.
Barbee said he was looking forward to Haskins' continuing role in the program.
"My style is built on one thing, and it's winning in March," Barbee said. "Winning in March starts with defense."
Bob Stull, Texas El Paso's athletic director, said Barbee was selected in part because of his reputation as a top recruiter.
Barbee said he was "taken aback" by the offer to lead a Division I team. He was offered the position Sunday and immediately accepted.
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A reserve basketball player at Kansas State was dismissed from the team because his name appears in a registered sex offender database.
The decision about Tyler Hughes was made after Athletic Director Tim Weiser learned the 6-foot-11 forward was listed in the Kansas Bureau of Investigation registered sex offender database.
"After thoroughly investigating the facts as we know them, we feel it is in Tyler's best interest, as well as the university's, that we sever our relationship," Weiser said.
Hughes played in 26 games last season, averaging 1.7 points.
TENNIS
Nalbandian Outlasts De Voest and the Rain in First Round
Third-seeded David Nalbandian waited out a rain delay and beat Rik De Voest, 6-0, 6-4, in the first round of the $2.45-million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters at Mason, Ohio.
Nalbandian led, 4-0, after only 17 minutes when the match was suspended because of heavy rain. The players came back an hour and a half later and warmed up, but a light rain returned. Finally, after 2 hours and 19 minutes, play resumed.
Eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis needed two tiebreakers to beat Thomas Johansson, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3).
The tournament's top-seeded players, No. 1 Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, play their first matches today.
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