Sports briefs

Hockey

AVS COACH DEMOTED: Joel Quenneville was hired Wednesday to coach the Colorado Avalanche, replacing Tony Granato, who will become his assistant. Quenneville was the coach of the St. Louis Blues from January 1997 until this February, when he was fired during a 4-12 slump.

Quenneville said he had been in contact about openings with several teams this summer — just not the one that hired him.

"This came about so quickly yesterday — I'm cutting the grass in the backyard and here I am sitting in front of everybody when Colorado wasn't even an idea," Quenneville said. "It came about so quickly and I'm totally thrilled about the opportunity. I love the challenge."

Granato was an Avalanche assistant when he was promoted to head coach in December 2002, replacing Bob Hartley, who was fired. Granato, who would have liked to have continued as the head coach, said he had no problem handing over the reins to someone like Quenneville and that he brought the idea to general manager Pierre Lacroix.

"I felt strongly with the people who were available and the opportunity to get Joel on the coaching staff, I recommended to Pierre and he felt the same way," said Granato, who was 73-33-17-11.

Track

IAAF WON'T INTERVENE: Track and field's world governing body will not intervene to suspend American athletes facing doping allegations unless there is evidence they failed drug tests.

That means four U.S. athletes facing possible lifetime bans — but have not tested positive for drugs — could compete in the Athens Olympics if their arbitration hearings have not been resolved by then.

"In the absence of facts, the IAAF cannot and will not do anything," IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Gyulai said the International Association of Athletics Federations expects that the six pending U.S. doping cases will be completed before next month's Olympics.

USA Track & Field said Tuesday that Tim Montgomery — the 100-meter world-record holder — and the five others facing doping charges would be allowed to compete at the U.S. Olympic trials beginning Friday in Sacramento, Calif.

College basketball

OHIO STATE NAMES COACH: A week after declaring he had no interest in becoming the basketball coach at Ohio State, Xavier's Thad Matta accepted the position on Wednesday. Xavier athletic director Dawn Rogers confirmed Matta's hiring shortly after she received a call from him early Wednesday evening.

"We wish Thad Matta well and we will move forward in the best interest of our student-athletes, campus community and loyal Xavier fans," Rogers said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.