Winning Season

First, Towson football coach Gordy Combs delivered a winning season, under trying circumstances in a tough league. Then, he got to enjoy a more personal reward. After making the Tigers a respectable member of the Atlantic 10, widely considered the best conference in Division I-AA, Combs has a new, three-year contract. The deal, worth about $110,000 per year, brought a satisfying end to the 2005 season for Combs, who began the year under pressure to produce significant progress in the eyes of Dr. Robert Caret, the university's president.

Earl Hawkins' five-year tenure as UMBC basketball coach has been punctuated with transition -- from independent Division I program to the East Coast Conference, from the troubled ECC to the Big South Conference.Now, Charles Brown, UMBC's director of athletics, is opting for stability over change.Brown announced yesterday that Hawkins has been given a two-year contract extension after spending a season in limbo."I wanted to wait until the whole season was done before I passed judgment on the program," Brown said.

Today Severna Park (7-2) at No. 4 Annapolis (8-1) Time: 7:15 p.m. Outlook: A lot is at stake as the county's oldest football rivalry is renewed for the 44th time in 43 years. The Falcons are guaranteed a playoff spot out in the Class 3A East region with an upset but could back in with a loss unless a couple of unlikely upsets occur. The Panthers, who lead the series 21-19-3, including last year's 40-0 romp, can clinch top seed in 3A East and the state's final eight-team field with a victory.

"When you're on top," winning coaches say, "everyone wants to bring you down."This is a concept Baltimore Lutheran's boys basketball team has not had to worry about for at least the last decade.The Saints, who compete in the Maryland Scholastic Association C Conference -- haven't had a winning season since 1983 and their gymnasium is devoid of any MSA championship banners.With Lutheran (10-5, 7-2) scheduled to play only three more regular- season games, the winning season is inevitable, but whether or not they have the wherewithal to secure their first MSA title should be determined within the next 48 hours.

It shouldn't be long before the new football and volleyball coaches are announced at Western Maryland.Associate athletic director Carol Fritz said the volleyball coach could be named today, and a football coach could be announced early next week.Meanwhile, the regular season for all five Western Maryland teams will conclude by week's end.Men's basketballThe Green Terrors (4-18) will travel to Gettysburg tonight before wrapping up their season Saturday night at home against Muhlenberg.Junior Rolando Welch needs 48 points in the two games to become the first Green Terrors player in 20 years to average more than 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Until late last week, when the Seattle Seahawks came calling with a six-figure salary and a job as running backs coach, Stump Mitchell was in a bind.Mitchell took the job Wednesday, and now Morgan State athletic director Garnett Purnell is the one in a bind. He must find a coach while appeasing alumni who have the ear of the president and had wanted Mitchell out.Though indications were that Purnell will hire from elsewhere, he was revealing nothing of his strategy yesterday. But the heat is on, with national signing day for recruits coming next week.

Cal RipkenHis projected role for the Orioles: Shortstop. Everyday.Where he has been this off-season: Ripken, who figured the demand on him for public appearances increased "20-fold or 30-fold" this off-season, took on some of those kinds of obligations. He also served as a technical adviser for a movie. In the final weeks of winter, he spent most of his time at home in Reisterstown, working out and playing basketball.Number crunching: Ripken begins the season with his consecutive-games streak at 2,153.

PRINCESS ANNE -- Rob Chavez, the new basketball coach at UMES, announced that he has recruited six new players for the coming season, including Mike Smith, a 6-foot-6 forward from Baltimore's St. Frances.Chavez was hired in mid-June to reverse a program that has had one winning season in the past 19. When he arrived at UMES, only one returnee, sophomore guard Mike Arnold, was academically eligible, but five seniors are in good standing following summer school.Chavez spent the past five seasons at Chemeketa Junior College in Salem, Ore., and he brought from there Duray Thirdgill, a 6-6 sophomore forward.

The NCAA has placed Howard University's football program on probation for two years and barred it from postseason competition next year.But the NCAA said the sanctions could have been worse if the school hadn't triggered the probe that prompted the penalties.In a 10-page report issued late Monday, the NCAA's Infractions Committee detailed a string of violations involving player eligibility and student aid.The penalties stem from violations under former coach Willis Jeffries, the NCAA said.

It ended terribly, but the Ravens had a splendid season, their second best since coming to Baltimore. That means absolutely, positively nothing going forward. Parity's powerful pull has turned the NFL into a league of abrupt turns, with many teams rising up one year and falling down the next. The Ravens improved by seven games this season. New Orleans is in the NFC title game after going 3-13 in 2005. Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl last February and then missed the playoffs this season.