Blazers tab Stotts as new head coach

NBA: The Portland Trail Blazers hired Terry Stotts as head coach on Tuesday, filling the NBA’s last coaching vacancy.

Stotts had a 115-168 record as coach of the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks before spending the past four seasons as an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. He inherits a team that fell drastically short of expectations last season. Stotts, 54, replaces Kaleb Canales, who went 8-15 in an interim role after Nate McMillan was fired.

Stotts and Canales emerged as the finalists for the permanent job, and the men reportedly interviewed with owner Paul Allen over the weekend at the London Olympics. Canales has been in the Trail Blazers’ organization since 2005. It is unclear if he will remain with the club.

Stotts coached Atlanta to a 52-85 record after replacing Lon Kruger in December 2002. He was an assistant with Golden State before getting his second chance as a head coach with Milwaukee in 2005. He led the Bucks to the playoffs in 2006, but was fired toward the end of the following season.

He has coached under Rick Carlisle the past four seasons.

Before becoming a head coach, Stotts was an assistant under George Karl for six years in Seattle and four with Milwaukee.

Illini add 2013 game against Huskies

College Football: Illinois added Washington to its 2013 football schedule and will play the Huskies at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Illinois said in a news release that the Illini will face the Huskies on Sept. 14.

Illinois has only played one other game at Soldier Field. That was a 10-9 win over Washington State in 1994.

• Ex-Penn State Brown joins Sooners : In one day, Oklahoma suddenly doubled the number of experienced receivers that will take the field for the Sooners in the season opener.

Former Penn State receiver Justin Brown went through his first practice with the Sooners, completing the process of transferring that started last week. Brown, a senior, will be eligible to play this season because of the NCAA’s penalties against Penn State following the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case.

Before Brown’s arrival, Kenny Stills was the only Sooners receiver who had caught a pass in college and wasn’t suspended indefinitely.

Brown was the second-leading receiver for the Nittany Lions last season.

• Former Penn State players intend to appeal: A group of former Penn State players, led by former quarterback Michael Robinson, notified the NCAA that it intends to appeal the harsh sanctions placed upon the football program for the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Paul V. Kelly, an attorney for former Nittany Lions quarterback Robinson and seven others who played for Penn State at some point during the 14 seasons in which the NCAA vacated victories, sent an intent-to-appeal letter to the NCAA dated Aug. 7.

A Penn State trustee has sent a similar letter to the NCAA, though the governing body for college sports has said the sanctions are not subject to appeal.

Sutherland wins opening stage

Cycling: Rory Sutherland survived four rugged mountain climbs and blistering heat to win the first stage of the Tour of Utah in Ogden.

The Australian finished the 131.7-mile stage in 5 hours, 25 minutes, 40 seconds. Italy’s Damiano Caruso took second.

• WADA urges cycling body to back U.S. officials: The World Anti-Doping Agency has urged cycling’s governing body to support United States anti-doping officials and provide documents to help their case against Lance Armstrong.

WADA said it wrote to International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid, asking him to withdraw a request to take jurisdiction of the Armstrong case from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Allmendinger tested positive for Adderall

Auto Racing: Suspended NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger says he tested positive for a prescription drug typically used to treat attention deficit disorder.

Allmendinger said in an interview with ESPN that he took Adderall a couple of days before the race at Kentucky Speedway on June 30 because he was tired. He does not have ADHD or a prescription for the drug.

He says a friend gave him the pill and said it was a workout supplement that would give him energy.

Allmendinger, who said he had never taken the drug before, is now going through NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program.

• Dodge to pull out of NASCAR at year’s end: Faced with the impending defection of its main partner in stock car racing, Dodge has decided to withdraw from NASCAR competition at the end of this season. Penske announced in February that it was switching to Fords for the 2013 season,