Associated Press
BOONE ó A committee studying whether Appalachian State should move its football program to the top level of Division I has decided to delay making its recommendation.
The school announced Friday that the panel would not meet the May deadline. It wants to continue studying the impact of potential tuition increases on athletic scholarship costs and changing membership in conferences around the country.
No new target date was announced.
Appalachian State began discussing a move from the Championship Subdivision to the Bowl Subdivision last fall.
The Mounaineers won three straight FCS national titles from 2005-07, have captured six straight Southern Conference titles and have led the FCS in regular-season home attendance four straight years.
NCAA-UNC
CHAPEL HILL ó North Carolina says the NCAA has made another visit to campus.
Team spokesman Kevin Best confirms investigators returned this week as part of the ongoing investigation into the football program.
ESPN.com, citing anonymous sources, is reporting the NCAA talked to defensive end Quinton Coples about his attendance at a post-NFL draft party earlier this month in Washington also attended by ex-teammates Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn.
Photos of Coples, Austin and Quinn surfaced online. According to the report, the NCAA wants to know how Coples paid for his trip and whether he accepted food or drink.
PACK TRANSFER
RALEIGH ó Defensive end Forrest West has transferred to North Carolina State from Colorado.
He will sit out this season and will have two years of eligibility beginning in 2012.
West had 19 tackles and 51/2 sacks in 11 games as a sophomore, a year after he finished with 10 tackles in 12 games.
TRESSEL
COLUMBUS, Ohio ó Ohio State will not have to pay for Jim Tressel’s legal team as the Buckeyes’ coach defends himself against NCAA charges that the knew his players received improper benefits but didn’t report it.
NFL LABOR
MINNEAPOLIS ó The unions for hockey, baseball and basketball are siding with the players in the NFL lockout court battle, saying the league’s lockout should be lifted.
The players associations for MLB, the NHL and the NBA filed a brief Friday with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying the case presents “vitally important issues” for the unions and their members. The players’ associations say professional athletes’ careers are short, and the loss of even part of a season causes personal and professional injures that can’t be compensated.
GOLF
CASARES, Spain ó Seven months after joining forces to help Europe reclaim the Ryder Cup, Northern Irish duo Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will meet in the final 16 at the World Match Play Championship.
GLADSTONE, N.J. ó Cristie Kerr, Paula Creamer and Michelle Wie won second-round matches to lead six Americans into the third round of the Sybase Match Play Championship.
TENNIS
PARIS ó Andy Roddick withdrew from the French Open after failing to recover from right shoulder injuries.
DODGERS
LOS ANGELES ó Former Dodgers CEO Jamie McCourt asked a judge to order the sale of the team, saying her ex-husband has badly mismanaged the franchise since he fired her nearly two years ago and brought one of baseballís most storied clubs to the ěbrink of financial ruin.î
DRIVER BURNED
INDIANAPOLIS ó Swiss driver Simona De Silvestro burned both hands during a crash at an Indy 500 practice, threatening her participation in qualifying Saturday and Sunday.
EBERSOL RESIGNS
NEW YORK ó Dick Ebersol, who made NBC the TV home of the Olympics for more than two decades, will watch someone else run the networkís coverage of next yearís Summer Games.
The powerful TV executive behind shows from ěSaturday Night Liveî to ěSunday Night Footballî resigned as head of NBC Sports in a contract dispute with his new bosses at Comcast.
The break was sudden and unexpected: Ebersol had been given a promotion when Comcast took over NBCUniversal earlier this year and appeared Monday at a presentation NBC gave to advertisers in New York, talking about coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.
COLLEGE HOOPS
RADFORD, Va. ó Radford University men’s basketball coach Brad Greenberg has resigned.
The 57-year-old Greenberg was suspended for four games in February for NCAA violations tied to impermissible team travel and associated extra benefits for an ineligible player.