Sports briefs for March 9, 2005

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 | 9:03 a.m.

Gretzky prepared to use replacements

Wayne Gretzky will put a team of replacement players on the ice if he has to. He just won't like it.

"I hope it doesn't come to that, I really don't," said Gretzky, the managing partner of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Negotiations between the NHL and the players' association are scheduled to start up again Thursday or Friday. If a new deal can't be reached before the start of next season, commissioner Gary Bettman might decide to use replacement players to guarantee there is hockey in the fall.

"There are 700 players, they are the best in the world," Gretzky said Tuesday. "They play in this league because it's the best game in the world. But everything is sort of wide open now because 400 guys are playing in Europe, you've got guys playing in the East Coast league, they are starting a new WHA.

"If 30 teams say 'We're playing' ... we're one of those 30 teams, we're going to play."

Marshall coach decides to retire

After nine years at the school, a university spokesman said today that Marshall football coach Bob Pruett has decided to retire.

Athletic department spokesman Randy Burnside declined to say why the 61-year-old Pruett made the decision. A news conference was planned for this morning.

It wasn't immediately clear when his retirement would be effective.

Pruett signed a contract in 2003 that would have kept him at the school through the 2010 season. The contract guaranteed him $266,000 annually. He also receives $250,000 in incentives from private sources.

The decision comes as Marshall prepares to enter Conference USA this fall. The Thundering Herd finished its final season in the Mid-American Conference with a 6-6 record, its first non-winning season in 21 years. The school moved to Division I-A in 1997, a year after it won the Division I-AA national championship.

Bowe scheduled to fight in Utah

Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe is tentatively scheduled to fight in Utah on March 25, in what would be his second bout since coming back from an eight-year retirement from the ring.

The organization that licenses professional boxing in the state said Tuesday that Bowe's fight against Willie Chapman (18-20-3) won't become official until important paperwork is completed.

"There's a series of things we've got to go through before we approve that fight," said Richard Weinsoft, director of the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission, formerly the Utah Boxing Commission.