Off the wire

FOOTBALL Petrino hires Grantham

Todd Grantham is leaving Georgia to become Bobby Petrino’s defensive coordinator at Louisville. Georgia Coach Mark Richt confirmed Sunday night that Grantham had accepted an offerfrom the Cardinals. Grantham was Georgia’s defensive coordinator for four years. Grantham was entering the final year of a three-year contract worth $850,000 per year. ESPN reported Grantham will earn $1 million per year at Louisville. Grantham produced mixed results at Georgia. His 2012 defense was perceived as underachieving, and Georgia ranked eighth in the SEC in total defense and 78th in the nation in scoring defense in 2013, when the Bulldogs finished 8-5. Richt said Georgia already has received interest from “some very, very outstanding coaches” as he begins his search for a new defensive coordinator.

Tennessee Titans vice president of player personnel Lake Dawson has become the fifth candidate to interview for the Miami Dolphins’ job of general manager. Dawson, who interviewed Sunday, joined the Titans in 2007 as director of pro scouting, became vice president of football operations in 2011 and became vice president of player personnel in 2012. The former NFL receiver has been mentioned as a general manager candidate around the NFL for the past two years. Interviewed earlier for the Miami job were Browns assistant general manager Ray Farmer, Steelers director of football and business administration OmarKhan, Cardinals vice president of player personnel Jason Licht and Dolphins assistant general manager Brian Gaine.

The Chicago Bears have fired two defensive coaches and decided to bring back defensive coordinator Mel Tucker for next season. Defensive line coach Mike Phair and linebackers coach Tim Tibesar have been dismissed after the Bears allowed 29.9 points and 394.6 yards per game during their 8-8 season. Phair had been with the team since 2011 while Tibesar was hired a year ago. The Bears said the rest of the coaching staff will return next season. Coach Marc Trestman said Sunday in a statement that the team believes Tucker is the right person to lead the defense.

TENNIS Venus knocked out

Venus Williams lost in the first round at the Australian Open for only the second time, with her serve and concentration letting her down when it counted most in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Ekaterina Makarova. The seven-time Grand Slam winner breezed through the first set against the No. 22-seeded Makarova, who had an upset victory over Serena Williams in the fourth round at the 2012 Australian Open. She had chances in the second, missing a breakpoint opportunity to go up 4-2, and then serving three consecutive double-faults after leading the ninth game 40-30 to surrender a crucial break. Williams led 3-0 in the third set but Makarova rallied strongly to advance to the second round. Williams was playing the Australian Open for the 14th time and the highlight remains a run to the final in 2003.

WINTER SPORTS Abbott wins fourth title

Jeremy Abbott stayed on his feet Sunday throughout a challenging, jump-laden free skate that won him a fourth national championship. Seconds afterward, though, his national career over, his second Olympics looming, he slumped to the TD Garden ice in Boston,cupped his face in his hands and bawled. Abbott’s long program, filled with more difficult jumps and elements than his competitors, was topped only by runner-up Jason Brown’s. His combined score of 274.27 beat the teenage Brown’s by more than four points. The veteran and the Highland Park High (Ill.) School student, it was announced two hours after the 2014 U.S. Figure Skating Championships concluded, will represent the United States at next month’s Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Finishing third was Boston’s Max Aaron (260.44), the defending national champion. Abbott became the 11th American man to win at least four national titles, a list that includes Dick Button, Brian Boitano and Scott Hamilton.

David Wise and Maddie Bowman have clinched spots on the U.S. Olympic team by winning ski halfpipe events Sunday at the U.S. Grand Prix. Wise scored 89 points on his second run to edge Mike Riddle of Canada on a snowy day that made the half-pipe a little slower than usual. The next-highest American was Simon Dumont, who finished fourth overall. Bowman had a solid first run to hold off Ayana Onozuka of Japan. There are two more qualifying events for U.S. athletes to earn spots on the Olympic team. Both will be held next weekend in Park City, Utah.

Two-time U.S. champion Ashley Wagner has made the Olympic team despite finishing a distant fourth at the national championships. U.S. Figure Skating officials took into account past performances Sunday in picking the three women who will go to Sochi, not just their showing at this week’s event. Mirai Nagasu, a 2010 Olympian, didn’t make the team despite finishing third Saturday at the U.S. Championships. Fifteen-year-old Polina Edmunds, who was second, was selected even though she has no major international experience at the senior level. New U.S. champion Gracie Gold was an obvious choice after winning Saturday. Wagner finished fifth at the world championships and won the bronze medal at the Grand Prix Final, but she fell twice and failed to cleanly land two other triple jumps in Saturday’s free skate.

ATHLETICS

Commission director quits Keith Kizer has resigned as executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, saying he wants to return to the attorney general’s office. The 47-year-old Kizer is stepping down from the $95,000-a-year position he’s held for eight years. He said he made a five-year commitment to hold the job when he accepted it in 2006 and will return to his previous job in administrative law with the attorney general’s office. The commission regulates boxing, mixed martial arts and other combat sports. Among other things, Kizer was credited with implementing more aggressive drug testing and overseeing some of the largest gates in state history. A national search will begin to find a replacement for him.

HOCKEY Jets fire Noel

Claude Noel has been fired as coach by the Winnipeg Jets and replaced with Paul Maurice. Noel was fired amid a five-game losing streak that dropped the Jets to 19-23-5 and 10 points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Noel, hired after the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg before the 2011-12 season, went 80-79-18 during his tenure with the Jets. Assistant Perry Pearn also was fired. Maurice inherits a team that has struggled in its third season in Winnipeg thanks in part to inadequate goaltending and defensive breakdowns. The 46-year-old has been behind the bench as an NHL head coach for 1,084 games.

Sports, Pages 18 on 01/13/2014

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