Assistant Coach

It was everything you don't usually see at M&T Bank Stadium. The home team rolled up a lopsided score and, in a strange karmic twist, a last-second, 51-yard field goal caromed off the crossbar and continued on uneventfully into the scorebook. OK, it was only halftime, but when Navy kicker Joey Bullen skipped that ball through the uprights - from the exact same distance that Cleveland Browns kicker Phil Dawson hit that fateful and controversial game-tying field goal against the Ravens here two weeks ago - it was hard not to feel as if some strange cosmic force was at work.

Centennial won its first state championship, broke Mount Hebron's 30-game league winning streak, and posted a near-perfect 15-1 record last season.It couldn't have been much sweeter for Centennial coach Mike Siegert, who is entering his 22nd season.Siegert's Eagles likely must take a back seat this season to Mount Hebron and River Hill, Glenelg, and maybe even a couple of other teams, however.Siegert is smiling, anyway. Part of that is just the way Siegert is -- seemingly always happy and upbeat.

BaseballDevil Rays: Placed P Jim Mecir on 15-day DL. Optioned P Eddie Gaillard to Triple-A Durham. Recalled P Alan Newman from Durham.Mets: Optioned OF Terrence Long to Triple-A Norfolk.Rochester (Triple-A): Assigned P Jason Rogers to Double-A Bowie.BasketballMystics (WNBA): Named Jenny Boucek assistant coach.Harlem Globetrotters: Named Bernie Bickerstaff, former NBA Wizards coach, executive in charge of basketball.CollegesCoppin State: Announced resignation of Tiffany Green, women's basketball assistant coach.

Since Joe Brune arrived at Loyola High School in 1967, his football teams have won six titles.But Brune recently admitted that this, his 33rd season coaching the Dons, "has been a struggle."At times, the 65-year-old college adviser at the Towson-area private school said he has been unable to put a finger on why the Dons (5-5) have had to battle back to .500 despite returning plenty of talent."I believe in routine, repetition, getting kids to focus on getting the little things right," said Brune, who has been chosen All-Metro Coach of the Year three times.

Gimmicks? Coppin State men's basketball coach Fang Mitchell is too old-school for gimmicks. If he hired a woman to be his assistant coach, she must be capable. And if he hired a 23-year-old woman, she must be special.Stephanie Ready is both, and it becomes obvious about six seconds after meeting her.Ready rises to introduce herself before a visitor can beat her to it. She extends her hand, makes direct eye contact, exudes the self-assurance of an accomplished young professional -- which, in a sense, she already is.Then Ready starts talking, and it becomes obvious why Mitchell last month named her the second female assistant coach in Division I men's history.

He has gone from relative obscurity to national acclaim in the course of six years, from being thought of as the guy who was fortunate to have coached Peyton Manning to the coach who led Tennessee to last season's national championship.Phillip Fulmer has spent a career coming out of the shadows cast by others: first as the assistant coach who replaced the legendary Johnny Majors, then as the fellow who coached the Vols to a 13-0 season the year after Manning graduated.Tonight, Fulmer can add to his own legacy, not to mention his glittering 68-11 record, when second-ranked Tennessee plays fourth-ranked Florida at "The Swamp" in Gainesville, Fla.As happened to Manning, as well as to Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, there is now a street on the campus named after Fulmer.

Tony Martin, who built Archbishop Spalding into a boys basketball power in just three seasons and was The Sun's Metro Coach of the Year last winter, has resigned to become an assistant coach at Towson University.Martin, 34, whose Spalding teams were 69-30 (.697), told his seniors, including All-Metro players Derrick Snowden and Tremaine Robinson, last week of his decision."It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," said Martin, who will start in the Division I college job Aug. 1.Martin led the Cavaliers (31-5)

BaseballAstros: Activated OF Glen Barker from 15-day DL.Indians: Activated IF-OF Wil Cordero.Reds: Terminated player development contract with Triple-A Indianapolis.Rockies: Will purchase contracts of OF John Cangelosi, IF J. R. Phillips and P David Wainhouse and recall IF Juan Sosa from Triple-A Colorado Springs before tomorrow's game. Announced that manager Jim Leyland will retire at end of season.Tigers: Activated C Robert Fick from 60-day DL and recalled him from rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Toledo.

Kevin Thompson, one of the finest athletes in Annapolis High School history, will be named head boys basketball coach at Northeast High in Pasadena today.An assistant coach to Ken B. Dunn at South River the past four years, Thompson, 38, succeeds John Barbour, who resigned after 19 seasons and only one victory last year.

BaseballRed Sox: Optioned RHP Juan Pena to Triple-A Pawtucket.Cubs: Optioned OF Roosevelt Brown and IF Chad Meyers to Double-A West Tennessee.BasketballBulls: Activated G Charles Jones and G Rusty LaRue from injured list. Placed F Corey Benjamin and C Andrew Lang on injured list.Clippers: Activated G Sherman Douglas from injured list. Waived G James Robinson.Hornets: Signed G Corey Beck to 10-day contract.Nets: Named Mike O'Koren assistant coach.Wizards: Signed C John Coker to 10-day contract.

The Maryland men's basketball program has received a major boost to its 2010 recruiting class. Mychal Parker, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound small forward from the Miller School in Charlottesville, Va., committed to the Terps late Wednesday night. He joins Tucson (Ariz.) Santa Rita point guard Terrell Stoglin and Montrose Christian shooting guard Terrence Ross as part of the Terps' 2010 recruiting class. All three players are ranked among the top 150 prospects in the country by Rivals.com. Parker, the No. 53 player in the nation according to Rivals.

Colleges Ex-Towson football coach Combs joins Hopkins staff Gordy Combs, the second-winningest coach in the history of the Towson University football program, has joined the Blue Jays as a volunteer assistant, Hopkins coach Jim Margraff announced. Combs, who will coach the strong safeties in the Blue Jays' 4-4-3 defensive alignment, spent 17 years as the head coach at Towson and departed after the 2008 season with a career record of 92-90. "Gordy and I have been friends for many years, and I look forward to working with him this season," Margraff said.

Awards Spoiler alert: Don't read this if you plan to watch ESPYs Swimmer Michael Phelps, a Rodgers Forge native and Fells Point resident, set an ESPYs single-year record Wednesday night in Los Angeles by winning five awards: Best Male Athlete, Best Championship Performance, Best Record-Breaking Performance, Best Moment (as part of the 1,600-meter Olympic relay) and Best U.S. Male Olympian. PGA standout Tiger Woods, who had received Best Male Athlete the previous five years, had held the single-year record with four awards.

Horse racing 'Rachel,' Summer Bird entered in Haskell Aug. 2 Preakness-winning filly Rachel Alexandra will take on Belmont Stakes victor Summer Bird in the $1 million, Grade I Haskell Invitational on Aug. 2 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. Trainer Steve Asmussen said Wednesday that the 1 1/8-mile race would be perfect for the filly, who has won twice at nine furlongs this year. Tim Ice, trainer of Summer Bird, said he's pleased about the showdown. "The good horses should meet each other," he said.

WNBA Beard's shot with 1.9 seconds left lifts Mystics to victory Alana Beard hit a 16-footer with 1.9 seconds left to help the Washington Mystics beat the host San Antonio Silver Stars, 84-82, on Tuesday night. The Mystics (5-3) broke a three-game losing streak. The Silver Stars (3-4) were trying to edge past the .500 mark for the first time this season. Beard and Lindsey Harding led the Mystics with 19 points apiece. Beard picked up her fifth foul before the third quarter buzzer and went to the bench, but came back a minute later when the Silver Stars trimmed a 12-point deficit to one. The Silver Stars had a chance to win, but Belinda Snell's three-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim. Women's college basketball Towson to participate in Preseason NIT in November Towson will start its 2009-10 season by participating in the Preseason Women's National Invitation Tournament.

I eat, sleep and dream basketball. -Sam Cassell, assistant coach, Washington Wizards He's not kidding. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, Cassell would shoot hoops all day with his pals on East Baltimore's playgrounds, then grab a bite "and brag about what we'd just done to each other." At night, Cassell would curl up in his room on North Montford Street, a ball alongside his bed. Oh, the dreams that lad had. "I was always the point guard for either the Philadelphia 76ers or the New York Knicks," he said.

NBA playoffs Bryant's late 3-pointer helps Lakers win, 103-97, go up 2-1 Kobe Bryant's three-pointer over J.R. Smith gave Los Angeles a one-point lead with just over a minute left and sparked the Lakers to a 103-97 victory over the host Denver Nuggets for a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. Bryant, who scored 41 points, went 5-for-6 on free throws to ice it after his three-pointer gave Los Angeles a 96-95 lead. Carmelo Anthony (Towson Catholic) scored 21 points but just three after halftime for Denver, which lost at home for the first time since March 9. He was 4-for-13 in his worst performance of the postseason.

The last basketball game in its current on-campus arena is now in Coppin State's rearview mirror. Ahead is this week's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, but looming ever closer on the horizon is a bright, sunny vision of the future. Literally bright and sunny. What excites the Coppin folks most about the new arena rising along Gwynns Falls Parkway? "Windows," said men's assistant coach and former player Larry Tucker. It's a fairly standard amenity, one that the coaching offices in Coppin Center don't have.

Jen Adams never thought about becoming a head coach. Happy for the past two years as a hands-on assistant coach for Maryland's women's lacrosse team, Adams never intended to leave the program that made her a superstar. She turned down several lucrative head-coaching offers from other programs to stay with her alma mater. Until Loyola came calling. "Originally, I kind of cast [the inquiry] aside. I didn't even think much about it," Adams said. "Then, they asked me to come down and interview and I thought I'd give them at least that courtesy."

Towson named Connecticut offensive coordinator Rob Ambrose, a former Tigers player and assistant coach, as its head football coach yesterday. Ambrose, a 1993 Towson graduate and a native of Middletown, has been on UConn's staff for seven years. He replaces Gordy Combs, who was fired Dec. 2 after consecutive seasons of 3-8 and 3-9. "Being named as the fourth head coach in Towson football history is a tremendous honor for me," Ambrose said in a statement. "All three of my predecessors are legends and men that I admire.