Williams Leaves Grambling for Tampa Bay’s Front Office

More than 20 years after an ugly breakup, Doug Williams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are back together.

Williams, a Super Bowl most valuable player, is quitting his job as Grambling State’s coach to work in the Buccaneers’ front office as a personnel executive.

Williams played for the Buccaneers from 1978 to ’82 before a contract dispute with then-team owner Hugh Culverhouse led to the quarterback’s signing with the Oklahoma Outlaws of the United States Football League.

Williams joined the Washington Redskins in 1986 and led them to a 42-10 rout of the Denver Broncos in the 1988 Super Bowl. A back injury forced his retirement in 1989. Williams leaves his alma mater with a 52-18 record in six seasons.

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Former Michigan quarterback Drew Henson showcased his arm Thursday by throwing about 75 passes in front of representatives from 20 NFL teams at Houston.

Henson was a third base prospect for the New York Yankees until his release last week. The Houston Texans, who own his rights, are hopeful of getting a first- or second-round pick in a trade. A deal can’t happen until March 4 under NFL rules.

College Football

Boulder County Dist. Atty. Mary Keenan urged the University of Colorado to settle federal lawsuits filed by three women who say they were raped by players at or after an off-campus recruiting party in 2001.

In a related development, NCAA President Myles Brand announced he’s forming a task force to look into making recruiting rules more stringent.

The Pacific 10 Conference reached agreement with the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl to have the conference’s No. 6 selection participate for the next two years.

The bowl originally signed four-year contracts with the Mountain West and Big East conferences. The Big East agreed to allow the bowl to pursue another affiliation because of changes in the conference’s alignment.

Tennis

Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi both won in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals of the Siebel Open at San Jose.

Roddick, the No. 1 seed, beat Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen, 6-2, 6-3.

Agassi overcame Wesley Moodie’s big serves to win, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Top-seeded Kim Clijsters needed only 39 minutes to defeat Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, 6-1, 6-0, and reach the Gaz de France quarterfinals at Paris.

Goran Ivanisevic suffered a 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4) second-round loss to Tommy Robredo at the Milan Indoors. Ivanisevic was playing in his first event in eight months after a series of injuries.

Baseball

Jay Gibbons agreed to a $2.6-million one-year contract with Baltimore, avoiding arbitration

Hank Aaron, the all-time home run leader, was appointed to the board of directors of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

Miscellany

Raphael Poiree and his wife, Liv Grete, won gold medals at the biathlon world championships at Oberhof, Germany.

Michael Phelps won the 200-meter freestyle in 1:46.77 at the Spring National swimming championships in Orlando, Fla.