MU wrestling coach rewarded with five-year contract extension

Missouri wrestling coach Brian Smith, who led the school to a third-place finish in the NCAA Tournament, signed a five-year contract extension on Monday.

Missouri’s showing was the best in school history and the Tigers’ second-place finish in the Big 12 tournament tied the school’s best. The Tigers had the No. 1 national ranking part of last season.

MU BASEBALL: Tigers sophomore lefthander Rick Zagone was named Co-Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week along with Nebraska’s Tony Watson on Monday. Zagone threw a one-hit complete-game shutout last Saturday at Kansas State to lead the Tigers to a 3-0 victory. He improved his record to 6-0.

ROCK BRIDGE GOLF: The Bruins finished ninth in a field of 24, shooting a 315 on the par-70 course at the Sedalia Country Club. Joe Neal was the top Rock Bridge golfer with a 76.

WRIGHT HEADED TO NBA: Julian Wright is skipping his last two years to go into the NBA draft.

If he does not hire an agent, Wright can withdraw from the June 28 draft and return to school provided he does so by June 18.

ARKANSAS: John Pelphrey was introduced as new basketball coach, and he says he’ll still be Arkansas’ new coach when he goes to sleep Tuesday night.

ROBINSON MEMORIAL: Thousands of mourners passed the open casket of Eddie Robinson on Monday in the Louisiana Capitol, where the famed Grambling State football coach viewed the body of slain political titan Huey Long more than 70 years ago.

Robinson died last week at 88.

WOODEN IN HOSPITAL: Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has been hospitalized for treatment of a possible recurrence of diverticulitis.

“He’s absolutely doing fine,” daughter Nancy Muehlhausen said Monday. “He’s laughing and cracking jokes. He looks good.”

SWIMMING: A 52-year-old man who swam the 3,272-mile length of the Amazon River was released from the hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil and recovering from health problems brought on by the 65-day swim, his son said.

Slovenian Martin Strel was hospitalized with high blood pressure and dizziness on Sunday immediately after completing the swim.

IMUS: CBS Radio and MSNBC both said they were suspending Don Imus’ morning talk show for two weeks following his reference last week to members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”