College Football
MINNEAPOLIS – P.J. Fleck is leaving Western Michigan and heading to Minnesota to coach its reeling football program.
Western Michigan announced Friday that Fleck has informed the school that he is leaving for the Golden Gophers.
His decision comes three days after Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle fired Tracy Claeys following a standoff between the team’s players and the administration over the suspension of 10 players in connection with sexual assault allegations.
Fleck guided the Broncos to a 13-1 record this season and a spot in the Cotton Bowl, where they lost 24-16 to Wisconsin.
Fleck went 30-22 in four years at Western Michigan.
FRISCO, Texas – Sam Houston State quarterback Jeremiah Briscoe won the Walter Payton Award on Friday night as the most outstanding player in FCS and Northern Iowa defensive end Karter Schult received the Buck Buchanan Award as top defensive player.
Briscoe, a junior who transferred from UAB after it shut down its football program, passed for 4,602 yards and 57 touchdowns for the Bearkats (12-1). He beat out Eastern Washington teammates Gage Gubrud, a quarterback, and Cooper Kupp, a receiver. Kupp was trying to become a two-time winner of the Payton award after taking it last season.
Schult led FCS with 17 sacks. The other finalists were linebacker Dylan Cole of Missouri State and defensive P.J. Hall of Sam Houston State.
NFL
ENGLEWOOD – Broncos general manager John Elway began his third coaching search in six seasons with a visit to Kansas City on Friday to interview Chiefs special teams coach Dave Toub.
Elway will also travel to Atlanta this weekend to meet with Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, whose team, like Toub’s, has a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Toub, 54, also is scheduled to meet with the Chargers, and Shanahan is expected to meet with the Rams, 49ers and Jaguars about their head coaching vacancies.
Elway’s docket also includes a visit next week with Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. If Miami beats Pittsburgh on Sunday, that interview will be in Florida. Otherwise, the Broncos could fly him in.
NHL
DENVER – Nathan MacKinnon scored 4:43 into overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the New York Islanders 2-1 on Friday night for their first win at home in more than seven weeks.
MacKinnon also assisted on Gabriel Landeskog’s first-period goal, and Calvin Pickard finished with 35 saves for Colorado.
It was the Avalanche’s first home win since Nov. 14. They had lost 10 of 11 overall, with their only victory in the last four weeks coming Dec. 23 in Chicago.
Skiing
DOBBIACO, Italy – Sergey Ustiugov is two wins away from the first clean sweep of all seven stages in the 11-year history of the Tour de Ski cross-country race.
For his fifth consecutive win Friday, the Russian finished 0.4 seconds ahead of Maurice Manificat of France and 16.6 ahead of Simen Hegstad Krueger of Norway in a 10-kilometer individual freestyle event.
Ustiugov held a 2.4-second advantage at the last checkpoint and narrowly held on. Upon crossing the finish line, he collapsed stomach-down on the snow in exhaustion, his lungs pumping so hard that his body bounced up and down.
Associated Press
