The great in sports

  Right-hander   Marcus Stroman   and the   Yankees   are in agreement on a two-year, $37 million contract that includes a vesting player option, sources told ESPN on Thursday, lengthening New York's rotation with a two-time All-Star. Stroman, 32, made the National League team after posting a 2.96 ERA in the first half of 2023 with the  Chicago Cubs , the fourth-best mark in the NL. He made only six starts (along with two relief appearances) in the second half after suffering hip and rib injuries and allowed 23 earned runs in 24 innings, pulling his season-long ERA down to 3.95. The Yankees, nevertheless, sought him to help fill out a rotation that includes reigning American League Cy Young winner  Gerrit Cole  and a handful of question marks. Left-hander  Carlos Rodon faltered in the first season of a six-year, $162 million deal. The rotation is expected to be rounded out by  Nestor Cortes  (4.97 ERA in 63⅓ innings) and  Clark...

  Ryan Day and   Ohio State   struck again on the recruiting trail Wednesday as four-star defensive end   Zahir Mathis   committed for the 2025 class. Mathis (No. 47 overall in the 2025 ESPN 300), the seventh-best defensive end in the cycle, is the second top-50 prospect the Buckeyes have secured a pledge from since Saturday. Four-star cornerback Devin Sanchez (No. 10 overall in 2025) from Houston's North Shore High School joined the class during the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio. Mathis also considered Florida State, Texas, Tennessee and South Carolina. The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Mathis, the top player from Pennsylvania, attends Imhotep Charter High School in Philadelphia. He recorded 52 tackles (19 solo) with five tackles for loss and three sacks in 10 games as a junior for a team that went 15-0 and won a PIAA Class 5A state title in 2023. Sanchez, cornerback Blake Woodby (No. 27 overall in 2025), Mathis, quarterback Tavien St. Clair (No. 225 overall...

Texas  quarterback  Quinn Ewers  announced on social media Thursday that he's returning to the Longhorns for his senior year of college. Ewers led Texas to the College Football Playoff last season, putting together a prolific season that showed why he entered college as one of the country's most coveted recruits. Ewers' return will give Texas one of the faces of the sport next season, as he will be among college football's most recognizable names. The return will help him compete for the top quarterback spot in the 2024 draft, as he and Georgia's  Carson Beck  are the two players certain to return who project to have the most buzz. Ewers finished with 22 touchdown passes and six interceptions this season, including throwing for 349 yards and three touchdowns in a win at Alabama. Overall, he finished No. 2 in the Big 12 with 3,479 yards and a 69.0% completion percentage. The yardage totals came despite missing a pair of games because of injury. Ewers's developmen...

  Ohio State   junior wide receiver   Marvin Harrison Jr . is declaring for the 2024 NFL draft, he announced Thursday. Harrison, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr., is No. 2 overall on Mel Kiper Jr.'s Big Board. Harrison, who won the Biletnikoff Award last season, sat out the Buckeyes' 14-3 loss to Missouri in the 2023 Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. He became the first receiver in program history to record consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons after catching 67 passes for 1,211 yards and 14 touchdowns in 12 games. His solid junior season followed a breakout sophomore campaign in which he finished with 77 receptions for 1,263 yards (sixth in FBS) and 14 touchdowns in 2022 . He caught three touchdown passes as a freshman in the 2022 Rose Bowl Game, a 48-45 victory for Ohio State over Utah. He had indicated an open mind toward a possible return to Columbus last month, with a desire to beat Michigan and win a Big Ten championship at the front of his m...

 It is officially the end of the  Belichick era. The New England patriots and Bill Belichick has decided to mutually part ways after 24 years. During a news conference Thursday Robert Kraft  called Belichick the greatest coach of all time who deserved to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.  With that being said  The Patriots now will embark on their first head-coaching search in a quarter century. Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, whom the team signed to a contract extension in the offseason and Kraft has identified as a rising head-coaching candidate, projects to be a, if not the, leading candidate for the job, sources said. Mayo played for the Patriots from 2008 to 2014 and has been an assistant under Belichick since 2019. There will never be another Bill Belichick. He is first in all time playoff wins, second in wins with one franchise  Also  • 17 division titles, the most by a head coach in NFL history, with Shula, Andy Reid and Tom Landry tied f...

  Nick Saban, the stern coach who won seven national championships and turned Alabama back into a national powerhouse that included six of those titles in just 17 seasons, is retiring, according to multiple reports. The 72-year-old Saban restored a Crimson Tide program once ruled by Paul “Bear” Bryant to the top of college football after taking over in 2007. His decision to step away was reported Wednesday, first by ESPN and then by other outlets. Saban led the Crimson Tide from a shaky start this season to a Southeastern Conference championship and back into the College Football Playoff before falling to Michigan in a semifinal game at the Rose Bowl. Saban led the Tide to nine Southeastern Conference championships and won his first national title at Alabama with a 14-0 season in 2009. Titles came again in 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. Alabama was always a contender but had fallen short of the title since then. Saban is famed for his sideline scowl and fiery demeanor -- and for ...

  After 14 seasons, 10 playoff appearances and the franchise's lone Super Bowl championship, Pete Carroll is out as the   Seattle Seahawks ' coach. Team owner Jody Allen said in a statement Wednesday that the decision was made "after thoughtful meetings and careful consideration for the best interest of the franchise." Carroll will remain with the team in an unspecified advisory role. In an emotional farewell news conference Wednesday, Carroll, reading from a prepared statement, said he and ownership have "mutually agreed to set a new course." However, he said he "competed pretty hard" to remain Seattle's coach and that he ultimately "went along with their intentions." Carroll said his comments after the Seahawks' season finale that he wanted to continue coaching the team were "true to the bone.""I want to make sure that that's clear as things have shifted so quickly in most people's perspective," Carro...