Bob Knight joining ESPN studio team

USATODAY.com

ESPN Thursday announced that Knight, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I men's college basketball, will be a studio analyst for its basketball coverage starting March 12. And not just for the occasional soundbite. Knight will be on hand for ESPN's wall-to-wall coverage of the major conference championships and continue through the NCAA title game – including working on ESPN's on-site set at the Final Four. He'll appear on pregame and postgame shows and on SportsCenter, says ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys, "and all the things we do tied to men's basketball."

Knight has appeared many times on ESPN, but mainly via game coverage or replays of his famed chair-throwing incident while coaching Indiana – that incident has been the most-replayed highlight on ESPN in its history. Knight, after being fired at Indiana in 2000, also chose ESPN for his one live TV interview – and got very testy while doing it.

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Mellencamp, King musical set to haunt stage

Reuters

A long-gestating stage musical from rock musician John Mellencamp and horror author Stephen King will open in April 2009 at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre ahead of a possible Broadway run.

Mellencamp wrote the score for "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County," while King wrote the script.

The story, set in rural Mississippi in 1957, revolves around two brothers who hate each other. Their father takes them to a cabin where they used to vacation as children.

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Indiana set to announce Sampson's fate

FOX Sports

Kelvin Sampson met with his athletic director Friday, and the Hoosiers then held a team meeting, heightening the possibility Indiana will soon have a new coach.

The university was expected to announce later in the day whether Sampson would keep his job after an investigation found he committed five major NCAA recruiting violations.

Athletic director Rick Greenspan met briefly with Sampson. A few minutes after Greenspan left the coach's office, Sampson walked down a ramp with his wife, Karen.

Players, managers, assistant coaches and the coach's son, Kellen Sampson, then gathered in the locker room for what appeared to be a team meeting. No one would comment to reporters, including senior captain D.J. White. The meeting broke up about midday.

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New owners to rebrand Adam's Mark hotel

IndyStar.com:

"The new owners of Indianapolis' Adam's Mark Hotel intend to spend $18 million on renovations -- and it won't be an Adam's Mark for much longer.

Chartres Lodging Group of San Francisco, which announced the purchase Friday, did not elaborate on its planned overhaul of the 406-room Southwestside hotel, which will occur over the next 18 months.

But a 'rebranding' is planned by Chartres, which formerly was known as Oxford Lodging Advisory & Investment Group.

Chartres acquired five Adam's Mark hotels from HBE Corp. of St. Louis and is retooling the others, too. Adam's Mark hotels in Denver and Dallas each will become Sheratons, and an Adam's Mark in St. Louis will become a Hyatt Regency."