Soccer

Timbers fire coach Spencer

The Portland Timbers fired coach John Spencer on Monday and announced general manager Gavin Wilkinson will coach the Major League Soccer team for the rest of the season.

Portland dropped to 5-8-4 in its second MLS season after a 3-0 loss Saturday at Real Salt Lake. Spencer was 16-22-13 with the Timbers.

"I very much enjoyed my time with the club and wish everyone the best," Spencer, 41, said in a statement.

Wilkinson, 38, has been with the Timbers' organization since its first United Soccer Leagues season in 2001 and has served at various times as a player, assistant coach, coach and general manager.

Terry's racism trial begins

Two weeks after playing for England at the European Championship, John Terry was in a London courtroom — facing the rival player he is accused of racially abusing during an English Premier League match last year.

Chelsea captain Terry, 31, contends Queens Park Rangers player Anton Ferdinand, 27, who is black, fabricated the racism claim.

Terry faces a maximum fine of $3,900 if he becomes the first top soccer player in England convicted of racial abuse during a match.

Mancini gets new contract

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, 47, agreed to a five-year contract that ties him to the English Premier League champions until the summer of 2017.

College basketball

Ex-Stanford captain dies at 35

Peter Sauer, a former captain at Stanford who helped lead the Cardinal to the 1998 Final Four, died Sunday in White Plains, N.Y., where he had played in an outdoor game. He was 35.

There were conflicting reports on what Sauer was doing immediately before he shot a ball, collapsed and hit his head. He couldn't be revived by emergency medical technicians and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Allred rips Syracuse report

The lawyer for a man who accused Syracuse assistant coach Bernie Fine of sexual abuse said a report into the university's investigation of the claim is "a complete whitewash."

Bobby Davis' lawyer, Gloria Allred, said the report issued last week by a special committee failed to criticize that 2005 university investigation as biased because it was conducted by the school's longtime law firm.

Allred also said the conclusion there was no attempt to cover up the allegations doesn't "pass the laugh test."

Fine, 66, was fired in November after the allegations were made public.

The allegations by Davis and his stepbrother, Michael Lang, happened too long ago to be investigated by law enforcement, but the claims of a third man are being investigated by the U.S. Attorneys Office. Fine has not been charged and denies the accusations.

Montgomery signs extension

California coach Mike Montgomery, 65, has agreed to a two-year contract extension to remain at the school through the 2015-16 season.

Nine months ago, Montgomery disclosed he had bladder cancer and surgery that left him cancer-free. He is 88-47 in four seasons at Cal.

College football

Penn State thanks donors

Penn State received more than $208 million in donations for the fiscal year that ended June 30 — the second-highest total in university history — despite the upheaval after the arrest of Jerry Sandusky, former assistant coach, on child sex-abuse charges.

Sandusky, 68, awaits sentencing after being convicted of 45 criminal counts last month.

Only the 2010 fiscal year was more prolific for Penn State, when the school raised more than $274 million.

"We're very grateful — humbled really — to have this kind of response from Penn Staters, who I think have rallied to the cause ... by the side of the institution through a very difficult time," Rod Kirsch, senior vice president for development and alumni relations, said.

Elsewhere

• Phoenix Coyotes forward Brett MacLean's condition is improving, less than a week after he suffered a cardiac emergency during a pickup hockey game in Owen Sound, Ontario.

MacLean, 23, will continue to undergo tests at a hospital in London, Ontario.

• Swiss superstar Roger Federer, who won his seventh Wimbledon singles title Sunday, plans to return to the All England Club for the London Olympics tennis competition that starts July 28.

"I am now the Wimbledon champion, and I think that gives me even more confidence coming to the Olympics. And maybe in some ways, it maybe takes some 'pressure,' " he said, uncrossing his arms to make air quotes with his fingers, "off the Olympics because I already did win at Wimbledon this year."

• Ex-Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed making a tackle in a game against Army in 2010, was hired by Subway to appear in TV commercials with defensive lineman Justin Tuck of the New York Giants to promote the restaurant chain.

• Trainer Doug O'Neill said he will abandon his legal fight against the California Horse Racing Board and begin serving a 40-day suspension Aug. 19.

"There comes a time in a fight when it is no longer worth it to keep going," said O'Neill, 44, who was suspended for violations involving excessive levels of carbon dioxide in Argenta, who ran at Del Mar in 2010.

O'Neill trained I'll Have Another, who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but was retired last month before the Belmont Stakes because of a tendon problem.

I'll Have Another's owner, J. Paul Reddam, revealed he sold the 3-year-old colt to a farm in Japan for $10 million — noting two offers from U.S. breeding operations were for $3 million and not quite $5 million.

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