College Basketball -- Purdue Fires Women's Coaches

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Lin Dunn, who led the Purdue women's basketball team to the NCAA tournament Final Four in 1994 and to three Big Ten titles, was fired yesterday.

"The long-term future of our women's basketball program will be best served under new leadership," said athletic director Morgan Burke, who said Dunn's contract would not be renewed.

Dunn and assistant MaChelle Joseph, who also was fired, were found in February to have violated NCAA recruiting rules and were barred from recruiting until May 15.

They committed secondary violations, which the NCAA defines as providing "only a limited recruiting or competitive advantage and . . . isolated or inadvertent in nature."

The infractions, including things such as providing soft drinks and fast food meals for players, were first reported last year.

Purdue announced that, after an internal review, it had suspended contract negotiations with Dunn, reprimanded both coaches, conducted rules education training with the women's basketball staff and curtailed Joseph's off-campus recruiting.

Dunn, hired in 1987, compiled a 206-68 record in nine seasons, including a 20-11 mark this year and a first-round loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament.

Notes

-- Lorenzen Wright, Memphis' soph- omore center, is entering the NBA draft . . . with a condition.

Wright, a 6-foot-11, 230-pounder, said at a press conference in Memphis that he will leave open his option to return to Memphis if he is unsatisfied with his position in the draft.

Under NCAA rules, a player unhappy with his position in the draft can return to school if he has not contracted with an agent or accepted payment for professional tryouts.

Wright averaged 17.4 points and 10.4 rebounds this season and became the third sophomore in Tiger history to score 1,000 career points.

-- Six former Millersville, Pa., University basketball players have accused the program of academic misconduct and violations of NCAA rules.

Players made long-distance personal calls from an office phone; recruits were offered cash; and members and relatives of the coaching staff completed players' academic assignments, players told the Lancaster New Era.

Coach John Kochan, who has directed the program for 13 years, and his assistants denied the allegations. School officials said they have been checking the allegations.

-- No. 1 Fort Hays State (34-0) became the third team in NCAA Division II's 40-year history to complete an undefeated season with a 70-63 victory over Northern Kentucky.

The other Division II teams to have unbeaten seasons are Evansville (1965) and Cal State Bakersfield (1993).

Sherick Simpson scored 24 points and Anthony Pope added 19 for Fort Hays State.

No. 19 Northern Kentucky (25-7), which beat No. 6 Cal State Bakersfield and No. 2 Virginia Union to reach the championship game, shot a season-low 29 percent from the field.