MacLeod Resigns at Notre Dame

Notre Dame Coach John MacLeod, who had only three winning seasons in his eight years at the school, resigned Tuesday night.

Athletic Director Mike Wadsworth said he met with MacLeod on Tuesday afternoon and the coach indicated he wanted to resign.

MacLeod said in a statement: “I think everything is in place for Notre Dame to make a positive move. I appreciated the opportunity to work here at Notre Dame and I wish the best for the young men who are part of the program.”

Wadsworth refused to discuss the circumstances surrounding MacLeod’s departure, insisting MacLeod had requested that he limit what he said to what was in the statement.

But MacLeod told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that he expected to be back as coach despite the team’s 14-16 record.

“Yes I do. I really do,” MacLeod said. “There’s nothing written in stone. I’m not sitting here thinking I’m not going to be here. I’m going on a recruit trip tomorrow. We’ve been working our tails off.”

MacLeod’s Notre Dame teams were 106-124, including a 14-16 record this past season.

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Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson went from the hospital to practice and back to the hospital as he prepared his Sooners for their first-round game against Arizona in the NCAA tournament.

Sampson suffered an asthma attack Saturday. The attack coupled with an upper respiratory virus forced him to spend Sunday and Monday nights at Norman Regional Hospital.

It didn’t keep him from his basketball duties.

On Monday, he spent part of the day in the hospital, participating in the Big 12 coaches’ call, returning calls to the media and watching video of the Wildcats.

Then he went to practice. He tried to make the practice as routine as possible. He came up 20 minutes short of lasting the entire practice, telling trainer Alex Brown it was time to get him back to the hospital.

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Minnesota guard Kevin Clark suffered a seizure on the plane en route to Seattle for the first round of the NCAA tournament.

The Gophers play Gonzaga on Thursday.

Coach Clem Haskins said he expects Clark to play Thursday, but the guard won’t be at 100%.

Clark has taken medication since childhood to stave off seizures, but two more episodes occurred last month. He also had a seizure at Haskins’ house on Thanksgiving Day.

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Northern Arizona hopes to take advantage of a recruiting lull to hire a new coach.

With Ben Howland gone to the University of Pittsburgh, Athletic Director Steve Holton said he has an eye on Hawaii assistant Jamie Dixon as well as Howland’s top assistant, Mike Adras.

“Mike Adras and Jamie Dixon will get strong consideration,” Holton told The Arizona Republic. “Our feeling is by the first of April, we’ll want to have a new coach named. That will be a dead period in recruiting, and we’d like a person in place then.”