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Chiefs’ Rashee Rice
is cooperating with
police after car crash
DALLAS | An attorney for Kansas City Chiefs player Rashee Rice said Monday that the wide receiver is cooperating with authorities after a speeding Corvette and Lamborghini sport utility vehicle caused a chain-reaction crash on a busy Dallas highway over the weekend.
A total of six vehicles were involved in the crash shortly before 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the northbound lanes of North Central Expressway, Dallas police said Monday. The people in the Lamborghini and Corvette left the scene without determining if anyone needed medical attention or providing their information, police said. Two of the drivers in the other vehicles were treated at the scene for minor injuries, and two occupants of another vehicle were taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Dallas television station WFAA, citing unnamed sources, reported that one of the speeding vehicles was registered to Rice. Police said Monday morning that they were working to identify the occupants of the Corvette and Lamborghini but did not release any information about the people they were seeking and would not confirm reports that Rice was among them.
Police spokesperson Kristin Lowman said early Monday evening that she could confirm that police had “spoken with members of legal counsel but have not conducted interviews with potentially involved individuals in Saturday’s crash.”
State Sen. Royce West, an attorney for Rice, said in a statement Monday that his client’s thoughts were with everyone impacted by the accident and that he was cooperating with local authorities.
West said in the statement that Rice “will take all necessary steps to address this situation responsibly.”
Police said the drivers of the Corvette and Lamborghini were speeding in the far left lane when they lost control and the Lamborghini traveled onto the shoulder and hit the center median wall, causing the chain collision.
Rice, a member of the Super Bowl-winning Chiefs team, is from the Dallas area. He played for Southern Methodist University and grew up in the Fort Worth suburb of North Richland Hills.
Chiefs President Mark Donovan said in an interview Monday with KCMO Talk Radio’s “Mundo in the Morning” that the team will “react accordingly” once more is known about what happened.
“In all these situations you have to wait until you have all the facts, and frankly, we don’t have all the facts at this point,” Donovan said.
Lowman said law enforcement is asking anyone with information on the crash to contact police.
Tennessee fires Lady
Vols coach Kellie
Harper after five seasons
Tennessee fired Kellie Harper as the Lady Vols coach on Monday after five seasons.
Athletic director Danny White announced that Harper would not return, saying he told Harper that her alma mater was making a change after a “thorough review” of the women’s basketball program.
“Decisions like these are never easy to make, especially with someone who has done so much for the Lady Vols as a three-time national champion student-athlete,” White said in a statement. “Her love and passion for Tennessee and the Lady Vols is second to none. She has invested so much heart and soul into our program and truly has given her all for Tennessee.”
Harper finishes her Lady Vols coaching tenure with a 108-52 record, including 53-24 in Southeastern Conference play. She had become one of only two coaches to take four different programs to the NCAA Tournament.
But that’s not the standard at Tennessee, which she helped win three straight national titles as a player under the late Pat Summitt. The Lady Vols remain the only program to make every NCAA Tournament.
White said he talked with the Lady Vols and plans an aggressive search for the next leader of a program with eight national championships. Tennessee hasn’t won a national title since 2008 with Summitt. The Lady Vols have not reached a Final Four since then.
Harper coached the Lady Vols to consecutive Sweet 16s each of the past two seasons. But they lost to her former boss Wes Moore and North Carolina State in the second round 79-72 to end her fifth season.
She called it an honor to work at her alma mater and coach a program she loves dearly.
“I am grateful for the opportunity my staff and I have had to lead an amazing group of young women and to mentor them on the court as well as provide them with life skills that will benefit them far beyond the game of basketball,” Harper said in a statement.
Harper, who also had stints at Western Carolina and Missouri State, is 393-260 in 20 years as a coach, with 16 postseason berths, nine in the NCAA Tournament. She led the Lady Vols to consecutive Sweet 16s the previous two seasons, the second after losing starting center Tamari Key in December 2022 to a blood-clot issue.
Tennessee played much of this season without guard Destinee Wells, a three-time conference player of the year lost in December to a leg injury.
The Lady Vols finished third in the SEC four straight seasons between 2020 and 2023. They reached the SEC Tournament championship game in 2023 for the first time since 2015. They lost this year’s semifinal to South Carolina on a buzzer-beating 3 on March 9.
This is already the second coaching change in the SEC this offseason. Kentucky fired Kyra Elzy, who won the SEC Tournament title in 2022, and hired Kenny Brooks from Virginia Tech.
Harper was hired in 2019, replacing another former Lady Vols great in Holly Warlick. Warlick was fired after going 172-67 in seven seasons, making it to the regional finals in three of her first four years. But then she couldn’t get past the second round in her final three seasons.
That is not the standard at the program once led by Summitt, whose statue stands just outside the arena where the Lady Vols play, or in a league where LSU is the defending national champion, with South Carolina targeting its third title under coach Dawn Staley.
A year ago, Harper was given her third contract extension, running through April 2028.
Men’s coach Rick Barnes led his team to the SEC regular-season title and a loss in its second Elite Eight on Sunday.
Baseball players’
union head Tony Clark nearly doubled pay
NEW YORK | Baseball players’ association head Tony Clark nearly doubled his pay to $4.25 million in 2023, according the union’s annual federal disclosure filing Monday.
Clark’s income had risen from just under $2 million in his first full year after succeeding Michael Weiner as executive director in 2014 to $2.25 million annually from 2019-2022.
The union said Clark’s salary was $3.25 million and his 2023 income included a $1 million bonus that followed collective bargaining. The players’ association said it thought that bonus was similar to what other major league union executive directors received.
Clark has a $17.95 million, five-year contract that includes salaries of $3.41 million this year, $3.58 million in 2025, $3.76 million in 2026 and $3.95 million in 2027, according to a financial statement by Mazars that also was filed Monday.
The disclosure of this raise came roughly two years after Clark oversaw a lockout that ended with a new collective bargaining agreement and about two weeks after lawyer Harry Marino attempted to rally players and oust Clark’s No. 2, chief negotiator Bruce Meyer. Marino’s critiques include mismanagement of MLBPA funds.
The players last week appeared to reject Marino’s insurgency. Clark said the executive subcommittee authorized him to release a statement saying: “We still have issues to discuss, but one thing clear among the MLB executive subcommittee members is that this is no longer a Harry Marino discussion, in any respect.”
Marino earned $215,993 in 2023 before leaving the union last July. After helping minor league players unionize, Marino joined the MLBPA staff in September 2022 and earned $68,977 during the remainder of the year.
Meyer increased his pay to $1.55 million from $1.36 million in 2022, when he was promoted in July to deputy executive director from senior director of collective bargaining and legal. He has a five-year contract for $7.8 million that includes salaries of $1.5 million last year, $1.53 million this year, $1.56 million in 2025, $1,592,000 in 2026 and $1,624,000 in 2027. His agreement may be terminated by either side with 90 days’ notice and by the union at any time for cause.
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, earned roughly $9.3 million in the year ending Feb. 28, 2023, then left last summer. Tamika Tremaglio, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association before resigning in November, made $3.1 million in the year ending Sept. 30.
Total MLBPA spending on employees rose to $16.6 million last year from $15.4 million in 2022 and $11.9 million in 2021.
General counsel Matt Nussbaum earned $866,168 and deputy general counsel Jeff Perconte $681,330. Senior adviser Ian Penny, who had been general counsel until July 2022, earned $834,404 and chief operating officer Xavier James $662,952.
Former players listed include Chris Capuano, senior director of operation ($432,625), and Dave Winfield, a special adviser to Clark ($367,500). Other former players are special assistants Mike Myers ($278,319), Steve Rogers ($276,775), Phil Bradley ($246,206), Rick Helling ($217,324) and Bobby Bonilla ($132,477).
Jeffrey Hammonds, associate director player programs and initiatives, was at $25,884.
As part of its disclosure, the union filed its revised constitution, which specifies 38 executive board seats are held by major leaguers and 34 by minor leaguers.
The union paid $427,484 in rent for its Arizona office, whose opening was announced in February 2023. Rent for the main office in New York totaled $2,085,336.
The accompanying financial statement says the union signed a 15-year lease in December for a new office space it estimates it will move to in October with a five-year extension possible. The union’s rent obligations for all leases will rise from $2.3 million in 2024 to $3.7 million in 2028.
—From AP reports
