BRIEFLY: USC NAMES O-LINE COACH.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

USC coach Paul Hackett has decided to name tight ends coach Steve Morton the Trojans' new offensive line coach, replacing Steve Greatwood, who was fired last week.

Although Morton, 47, spent the past season coaching USC's tight ends, he was the offensive line coach at the University of Washington for seven years (1992-98) and also coached the offensive line at Washington State (1982-86) and Iowa State (1987-91).

Hackett is still making decisions on his coaching staff, but is expected to retain all of his defensive assistants, according to sources.

WINTER SPORTS: Four comatose youths still fight for their lives after being pulled from a pile of hundreds of people at a snowboard event, where five others were trampled to death.

At least 39 people were injured in the stampede at the Olympic stadium in Innsbruck, Austria on Saturday.

Rescue workers and police said a crowd leaving the stadium apparently slipped on an icy slope and slid into a chain-link fence, which then gave way. In the ensuing panic, the crowd surged forward, crushing those at the bottom.

Hermann Maier ruled the slopes again, making alpine skiing history by winning a World Cup super giant slalom in Alberta.

Maier, 27, won the 11th super-G of his career, including two this season. He passed the mark of 10 super-G wins by Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen, set between 1983 and 1989.

``It's great to make history, but I'm not (finished),'' Maier said.

Hardship and sacrifice have finally paid off for 17-year-old Janica Kostelic, who won a women's slalom in France, graduating from prodigy to potential World Cup champion.

Once forced to sleep in tents as a young, penniless skier, the Croatian now stands at the forefront of the women's World Cup ski circuit.

TENNIS: John McEnroe won the Honda Challenge seniors event in London for the third consecutive year when Henri Leconte quit in the second set because of a back injury. McEnroe was leading 6-2, 4-1.