Danica Patrick Spike Tv

Soccer

CHIVAS HAS NEW COACH: Hans Westerhof was introduced Friday as the new coach of the struggling MLS expansion team Chivas USA, declining to commit to the job past this season.

Westerhof began running practices Monday but couldn't formally be appointed coach until receiving a visa and work permit. He will make his debut today when Chivas USA (1-8-2) plays the Fire (5-5-1) in Chicago.

"With Hans here, we're looking forward to improving things," said Antonio Cue, Chivas USA's president and co-owner. "The goal is to make the playoffs."

Westerhof succeeds Thomas Rongen who was reassigned Monday as the team's sporting director after it got off to a 1-8-1 start in its inaugural campaign. Chivas USA tied Kansas City 1-1 in its only game under interim coach Javier Ledesma.

Ledesma, an uncle of Chicago Cubs shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, will remain with the team as an assistant, as will Martin Vasquez.

"It's clear that we have to play more as a team," Westerhof said. "Most of the time we start good in the first half, but in the second half, most of the time we lose our initiative."

Westerhof will retain his position as director of football for Mexico's CD Guadalajara, Chivas USA's sister team, managing all its soccer operations. He also oversees Costa Rica's Saprissa, another of CD Guadalajara's sister teams.

Westerhof said he would remain with Chivas USA at least through the end of the season. Returning for the 2006 season depends on how things are going with the other teams, he said.

Westerhof also coached Groningen, PSV Eindhoven and Willem II in his native Netherlands.

JONES RETURNS TO GALAXY: Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Cobi Jones practiced Friday and will be available to play in tonight's MLS game against the MetroStars after being dropped from the U.S. men's national team roster. Jones returned Thursday from Salt Lake City, where the U.S. team was training for Saturday's qualifier against Costa Rica.

The Galaxy still will be without forward Landon Donovan, midfielder Guillermo Ramirez and defenders Tyrone Marshall and Michael Umana because of national team commitments.

College basketball

SCHOLARSHIPS RETURNED: The NCAA gave Georgia a rare hoops victory Friday, restoring three men's basketball scholarships that were taken away following the scandal that took down coach Jim Harrick.

Initially, the Bulldogs were stripped of one scholarship for each of the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons as part of their four- year probation.

The school agreed that wrongdoing occurred under Harrick, but appealed the seriousness of the penalties. At a March hearing, Georgia's delegation asked the NCAA to restore one of the scholarships.

Instead, the Division I Infractions Appeals Committee ruled that Georgia should get all three scholarships back -- a major victory for a program coming off its worst season in 30 years.

The Bulldogs went 8-20 with a roster that included only seven scholarship players.

Auto racing

INDY 500 RATINGS: Danica Patrick didn't win the Indianapolis 500, but her performance helped ABC get the best rating for the race since 1996.

Sunday's race got a national rating of 6.5 with an 18 share, up 59 percent from last year's 4.7 with an 11 share.

The spike in interest can almost certainly be attributed to the presence of Patrick, who became the first female to ever lead a lap at the Indy 500. She was in contention for the win toward the end of the race before finishing fourth. Dan Wheldon won the race.

The rating is the percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use. Share is the percentage of people actually watching TV at a time who tune in at any point during a specific program.

Gymnastics

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: Spaniard Rafael Martinez topped the men's all-around qualifying at the European individual gymnastics championships on Friday. He also reached the horizontal bar final.

Martinez, who was second in the individual all-around at last year's European championships and fifth at the Athens Olympics, scored 55.836 points. He finished ahead of Romanian pair Razvan Dorin Selariu and Ioan Silviu Suciu.

Defending all-around champion Marian Dragulescu, also of Romania, failed to qualify. He missed trying to repeat on the vault, but will attempt successive floor titles as the top qualifier.

The only other gymnast with a chance to defend his European title from last year is Vlasios Maras of Greece on the horizontal bar.

Romania will have the most gymnasts in Sunday's apparatus finals with eight. France is next with seven.

Hungary's Krisztian Berki had Friday's highest score of 9.750 on the pommel horse. He was third in the event at the 2004 Europeans.

The European championships continue Saturday with the men's and women's all-around finals.

College football

IRISH HIRE QB COACH: Peter Vaas, a head coach in NFL Europe the last six seasons, was appointed quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame on Friday.

Vaas replaces David Cutcliffe, who resigned Tuesday because his recovery from triple bypass heart surgery was taking longer than expected.

"For several years, Peter Vaas has been on our radar and was certainly on my short list when I took this job," Irish coach Charlie Weis said. "Making this move an easy one."

Vaas, who was quarterbacks coach for the Irish under Lou Holtz in 1990-91, said he was excited about returning to college football.

Copyright C 2005 Deseret News Publishing Co.
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