Sports briefs for April 20, 2004

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 | 9:54 a.m.

John Thompson III gets Georgetown job

Hoping to revive its basketball program, Georgetown University hired John Thompson III, the son of the only coach to lead the Hoyas to a national title.

The younger Thompson, Princeton's coach since 2000, was to be introduced by Georgetown at a news conference today.

His father's 1984 Georgetown team, led by Patrick Ewing, beat Houston for the NCAA championship. Georgetown also reached the national title games in 1982 and 1985 under Thompson, who left the team in 1999 and now works as a TV analyst.

Thompson III replaces Craig Esherick, who was fired last month after a 13-15 season, the Hoyas' worst in 31 years.

The younger Thompson, 37, led the Tigers to a 68-42 record over four years, including Ivy League titles and NCAA tournament berths in 2000-01 and 2003-04.

Esherick was an assistant to the elder Thompson and succeeded him in 1999. The Hoyas have made just one NCAA tournament appearance since, in 2001

HBO nets Emmys

"Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" won two of HBO's eight Sports Emmys, more than any other network. "Real Sports" took the sports journalism award and was cited for a feature story on Alex Zanardi. HBO also won two Emmys for its documentary on the Boston Red Sox, "The Curse of the Bambino." ESPN came away with seven, including three for SportsCenter, and its "Sunday Night Football" won for outstanding live sports series.

Man U dismisses fears

Manchester United officials dismissed speculation today that the club's 67,000-seat stadium was a target for terrorists.

Trojan pleads innocent

Suspended Southern Cal offensive tackle Winston Justice pleaded innocent to misdemeanor charges for allegedly pulling a pellet gun on a fellow student.