SPORTS DIGEST || Hall-of-Fame coach Calhoun unretires

Hall-of-Fame coach Calhoun unretires

WEST HARTFORD, CONN.

Hall-of-Fame basketball coach Jim Calhoun is coming out of retirement to help build a new Division III program at the University of Saint Joseph in Connecticut.

The school of 2,500 students, which will begin admitting men next fall, made the appointment official at a news conference on Thursday.

The 75-year-old Calhoun won 873 games during a 40-year coaching career, leading UConn to three national championships during his 26 seasons with the Huskies. He retired in 2012 and has been working in an advisory role at UConn and as an analyst with ESPN.

Saint Joseph plans to begin playing basketball in 2018-19.

Sharks’ Ward will stand for anthem

SAN JOSE, CALIF.

San Jose Sharks forward Joel Ward says he has decided not to protest by kneeling during the national anthem.

Ward had said he was considering a protest to raise awareness to the issues of racial inequality and excessive force by police against minorities in the United States. But he said Thursday that he doesn’t want the focus to be on the anthem and wants to work on bringing minorities and law enforcement together.

Ward says he wants to spend more time talking about these issues in the locker room, at kitchen tables and in the community.

The 36-year-old Ward, one of about 30 black players in the league, is from Canada.

Bayern Munich sacks Carlo Ancelotti

MUNICH

Bayern Munich fired Carlo Ancelotti as coach on Thursday after the German team’s heaviest Champions League group-stage defeat.

Wednesday’s 3-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain led club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to warn of “consequences” after what he called a “very bitter defeat.”

Bayern said Willy Sagnol, a former Bayern defender who was Ancelotti’s assistant, will take over the team on an interim basis.

Ancelotti, who won the Bundesliga in his first season in charge after taking over from Pep Guardiola, endured a shaky start to his second season. Bayern lost to Hoffenheim in the third round of the league and let a two-goal lead slip in a 2-2 draw with Wolfsburg last Friday. Bayern is three points behind leader Borussia Dortmund after six rounds.

UEFA to vote on adding Island of Jersey

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

The island of Jersey’s application to join UEFA as a member must be put to the full congress of European soccer’s 55 member federations.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport says its judging panel gave a partial win to the Jersey Football Association which appealed against its 2015 application being rejected by UEFA’s executive committee. CAS says the issue “must be forwarded to the UEFA Congress for decision.” It meets Feb. 26 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

UEFA allows membership only to countries recognized as independent by most United Nations members.

Jersey is a British dependency near the northwest coast of France, and the JFA is part of England’s Football Association.

Russian whistleblower faces arrest

MOSCOW

A Russian court has ruled that doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov should be arrested if he returns to his home country.

The ruling could be a step toward Russia demanding the extradition of the former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director, though Russia does not have an extradition treaty with United States, where Rodchenkov fled in January 2016.

Yunona Tsaryova, a spokeswoman for the Basmanny district court in Moscow, told The Associated Press that the court issued an order for Rodchenkov’s arrest last week on a charge of “abuse of official powers leading to grave consequences.”

The decision was not immediately made public and was first reported Thursday by Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

Staff/wire report