BRUNSWICK — Tom McCabe, the longtime men’s lacrosse coach at Bowdoin College, announced Monday that he’ll retire after the 2012 season.

McCabe has coached the Polar Bears for 21 seasons and has 215 wins, three away from the school record held by his predecessor, Mort LaPointe. His teams have won two ECAC championships, and the Polar Bears made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2008.

McCabe and his wife, Pat, an elementary physical education teacher in Brunswick, plan to join the Peace Corps.

FOOTBALL

THE BIG EAST has had discussions with BYU about giving up its football independence and joining the rebuilding conference.

BYU is in its first year as a football independent after leaving the Mountain West Conference. Its other teams compete in the West Coast Conference.

The Big East is working to add new members and become a 12-team football conference, following the announced departures of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

The conference wants to add Boise State, Air Force and Navy in football only, and SMU, Houston and Central Florida in all sports, but would still need another member to eventually have 12 football schools.

 

MISSISSIPPI: After more than a year without a Southeastern Conference victory, Coach Houston Nutt will resign.

Nutt, the fourth-year Rebels’ coach, will lead the team for the remainder of the season, Athletic Director Pete Boone said at a press conference. Boone also announced that he will step down as athletic director by the end of 2012.

The Rebels have lost 12 consecutive Southeastern Conference games and are 2-7 overall this year, including 0-6 in the SEC. Nutt is 24-23 in his four years in Oxford.

 

LSU: Les Miles says the label “starter” means very little, even in regard to quarterbacks Jarrett Lee and Jordan Jefferson.

“It’s not significant to me, nor has it ever been, to name anybody anything,” LSU’s coach said as the No. 1 Tigers began preparations to host Western Kentucky on Saturday night.

“It will always be about: In this series in the game, which quarterback gives us the best opportunity for victory. I expect that both quarterbacks will play.”

Lee, who started in LSU’s 9-6 overtime victory Saturday at Alabama, is technically 9-0 in that role this season. But after Lee threw interceptions on consecutive passes against the Crimson Tide, Jefferson played the majority of the game.

Jefferson lost his starting job when he was arrested and then suspended for four games in connection with an August bar fight.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

(16) ARIZONA 73, VALPARAISO 64: Kyle Fogg scored 16 points, Jesse Perry had a double-double and the Wildcats pulled away in the second half to open the season with a victory at Tucson, Ariz.

 

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