Sports briefs for January 9, 2004

Friday, Jan. 9, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.

Fired Oakland Raides coach Bill Callahan reportedly has been hired as the head coach at Nebraska, ending a six-week search in which several candidates turned down the job.

The school called a new conference for today to introduce its new coach and The Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star both reported that Callahan had been chosen to replace Frank Solich, who was fired Nov. 29 after a 9-3 season.

Callahan, fired last week after a 4-12 season, was no less than the fourth serious candidate to coach one of college football's top programs.

Al Saunders, offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, and Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, turned down offers, while Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer interviewed and then said he was staying with the Cowboys.

Callahan led the Raiders to the Super Bowl two seasons ago, but this season had problems dealing with his players.

On Thursday, Callahan's agent Gary O'Hagan said Callahan was "very interested" in the Nebraska job but had not yet been offered the position.

Yankees rehire Down

Former UNLV assistant coach Rick Down was hired as the New York Yankees' coordinator of minor-league instruction, more than two months after being fired as the major-league team's hitting coach.

Manna, Burgoyne lead

Tony Manna Jr. of Omaha, Neb., and Amanda Burgoyne of Newport, Minn., were the men's and women's leaders at the end of qualifying rounds in the 2004 USA Bowling National Amateur Championships at the Castaways. Match play begins today and continues through Saturday with the top five men and top five women qualifying for Team USA 2004.

3 lead at Mesquite

The second round of the Women's Nevada Open at the CasaBlanca Golf Club in Mesquite ended with a three-way tie atop the leaderboard. Jessica Reese of Santa Rosa, Calif., Dodie Mazzuca of Las Vegas and Kyeong-Eun Bae of Chino Hills, Calif., were at 4-under-par 140 headed into today's final round.

U.S. in Hopman final

The U.S. team of Lindsay Davenport and James Blake reached the final at the Hopman Cup today by beating Russia 3-0 at Perth, Australia. The Americans will face Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Karol Kucera in the final, after Australia withdrew from the competition because of Alicia Molik's foot injury.

Stars are stars

Three members of the Dallas Stars -- forwards Mike Modano and Bill Guerin and goaltender Marty Turco -- were elected to the Western Conference starting lineup for the NHL All-Star Game Feb. 8 in Minnepolis.

Startling lineups, page 10D.

Rattlers rally to win

The Las Vegas Rattlers of the ABA staged a second-half comeback to score a 107-103 victory against the Kansas City Knights at UNLV's South Gym.