Report: LSU coach left due to conduct

The resignation of Louisiana Sate women's basketball coach Pokey Chatman was prompted by the school's discovery of inappropriate conduct between her and one or more players, according to The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune.

Assistant coach Bob Starkey, who will lead the team for now, declined to say whether he was aware of any improper conduct.

The Times-Picayune, citing university sources, offered few details, saying it was unclear when the alleged conduct took place. ESPN.com reported LSU had found out about an improper sexual relationship between Chatman and a former player.

LSU athletic director Skip Bertman told the newspaper no formal investigation had taken place but that an informal investigation "might have happened."

LSU advanced to the Final Four in Chatman's first two seasons as head coach in 2005 and 2006, winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season titles along the way.

COACH FIRED St. Bonaventure men's basketball coach Anthony Solomon was dismissed after a 7-22 season, the fourth straight year the Bonnies lost 19 or more games.

TORERO TURNOVERBrad Holland won't return as the men's basketball coach at the University of San Diego, where he went 200-176 and made one NCAA Tournament appearance in 13 seasons.

AINGE INJURED Tennessee starting quarterback Erik Ainge has injured his knee and will miss the rest of spring practice.

GLADIATORS HIT JACKPOT Kevin Prentiss had an Arena Football League-record nine touchdown catches to help the Las Vegas Gladiators take a 79-69 road victory against the Grand Rapids Rampage.

MACKEY LEADS Lance Mackey was the first musher to reach the Iditarod checkpoint early Thursday in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race, leaving him 532 miles from the finish line in Nome, Alaska.

Mackey, 36, of Fairbanks, Alaska, is seeking to become the first musher to win the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest International race in Canada in the same year.

MUSHER FOUND A missing 61- year-old rookie musher in the Iditarod was located Thursday afternoon, hours after officials started a search for the woman thought missing along a treacherous stretch of trail.

Deborah Bicknell, of Juneau, Alaska, was spotted from the air driving her team on a trail through Ptarmigan Pass, a route formerly used in the race. She was seen driving her dog team 18 miles from the Rohn checkpoint.

"It appears she took the wrong trail," race spokesman Chas St. George said.

Veteran mushers say conditions this year - with icy trails, little fresh snow, bare ground - are some of the worst they have ever seen.

DOWNHILL ADVANTAGE Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland posted the fastest World Cup men's downhill training run at Kvitfjell, Norway.

Hoffmann finished in 1 minute, 46.74 seconds, edging Marco Buchel of Liechtenstein by .19 seconds. American Bode Miller was 28th.

POIREE STREAKING Raphael Poiree of France won the 20-kilometer race in Oslo, Norway, for his fourth straight World Cup biathlon victory.

SPEED RACER Dutch skater Sven Kramer won the men's 5,000 meters in the World Single Distances Speed Skating championships in Kearns, Utah.

SEVILLA DRAWS Enzo Maresca converted a penalty kick with 2 minutes left to give defending champion Sevilla a 2-2 tie against Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup soccer tournament.

32 AND COUNTING John Henry, horse racing's elder statesman and twice the Horse of the Year, turns 32 today in Lexington, Ky. That's the human equivalent of 96.

FRANKEL TIES RECORD Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel tied Charlie Whittingham's Santa Anita record for career victories Wednesday when he saddled Les Grand Trois to victory in the $50,800 Mister Frisky feature for 3-year-olds. It was his 869th win.

BROADCAST PIONEER DIES Andy Sidaris, who directed the ABC television network's Wide World of Sports programs for its first 25 years, died of throat cancer Wednesday in Los Angeles. He was 76.