COLLEGE BASKETBALL

CHANEY WILL RETURN TO COACH TEMPLE NEXT SEASON

John Chaney will return to coach Temple for another season, ending speculation about the Hall of Famer’s future after a tumultuous conclusion to the season. Chaney was suspended for five games last month for ordering rough play by one of his players, who broke an opponent’s arm. Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw said the university and Chaney would meet next fall to decide if Chaney wants to return for the 2006-07 season.

Angered by what he thought were illegal screens by Saint Joseph’s, Chaney inserted seldom-used, 6-foot-8, 250-pound Nehemiah Ingram against the Hawks on a February 22 game to “send a message.” Ingram fouled out in four minutes.

PRO BASKETBALL

STRUGGLING CAVALIERS FIRE COACH SILAS

Paul Silas was fired as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers yesterday with his team fighting for a playoff spot after leading its division earlier this year. Longtime NBA assistant Brendan Malone was appointed interim coach. Silas’s son, assistant Stephen Silas, was also fired.

The dismissal came with 18 games left and the team clinging to the fifth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Despite the play of LeBron James and fellow All-Star Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the Cavs have lost nine of 12 and nine straight road games.

The 61-year-old Silas has a 355-400 coaching record with the Los Angeles Clippers, Hornets, and Cavaliers. He joined Cleveland in 2003 after being fired by the New Orleans Hornets, having led them to the playoffs four straight times.

FOOTBALL

GIANTS RE-SIGN BACKUP QB PALMER

Quarterback Jesse Palmer has re-signed with the Giants, the team announced yesterday. Terms of the contract were not immediately available. Palmer will compete with Jim Miller for the backup quarterback job behind starter Eli Manning.

NFL LABOR TALKS AT ‘DEAD END’

Talks to extend the NFL contract are “at a dead end,” Commissioner Paul Tagliabue told NFL owners yesterday.

There appear to be two basic issues – one between the union and the league, the other among the owners themselves. The issue involving the union is the percentage of the money to go to the players, who currently get 64% of what is termed “designated gross revenue.” The players want that same percentage, but with the pool expanded to include “total football revenue.” That would include money from local revenues, including advertising and local marketing deals made by individual teams.

The squabble among the owners involves how much the high-revenue teams with new stadiums or other sources of money put into that pool.

CARDINALS, NINERS TO MEET IN MEXICO

The NFL will play its first regular-season game outside the United States on October 2 when the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City. Arizona was an obvious choice to switch a home game to Mexico because the Cardinals rarely sell out Sun Devil Stadium. On August 15,1994,the largest crowd in NFL history – 112,376 – saw a preseason game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers in Mexico City.

– Associated Press