BRIEFLY : GRAMBLING TO HIRE WILLIAMS AS COACH.

Doug Williams, one of Eddie Robinson's finest quarterbacks before going on to NFL greatness, will succeed his old mentor as Grambling State coach.

``I got the call and it's not me,'' Lee Fobbs, one of three candidates for the job, said. ``They said it's Doug, and I certainly wish him the best of luck. I hope he wins every game.''

Oregon was selected Tuesday to play in the Las Vegas Bowl against Air Force on Dec. 20. After meeting for about an hour, bowl officials decided on Oregon, with less than three weeks left before the first major college bowl of the season. The other finalists for the bowl were Iowa, Mississippi, Mississippi State and Virginia.

Ohio State coach John Cooper has suspended defensive tackle Paul Breed, who was arrested in an alleged purse-snatching at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Brian Finneran, Villanova's star wide receiver, won the Walter Payton Award as the nation's outstanding player in Division I-AA.

BASKETBALL: Popeye Jones, the leading rebounder for the Toronto Raptors, is expected to miss the rest of the NBA season because of a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee suffered during Sunday's loss to the Lakers.

Philadelphia 76ers forward Derrick Coleman, out since Nov. 21 with an irregular heartbeat, underwent a procedure to shock his heart back to a normal rhythm.

The Cleveland Cavaliers waived Greg Graham, a little more than a month after acquiring the guard in a trade with the Denver Nuggets.

St. Mary's 7-foot-3 junior center Brad Millard, one of the top players in the West Coast Conference, will miss at least five weeks because of a broken left foot.

HOCKEY: The Toronto Maple Leafs will join traditional rivals Montreal and Boston in the NHL's Northeast Division beginning next season. The league's Board of Governors approved Toronto's move from the Central Division.

Kirk Muller of the Florida Panthers was suspended two games and fined $1,000 for a high-sticking incident in a game against the New York Rangers.

SOCCER: Steve Sampson was retained as head coach of the U.S. team, just before Thursday's World Cup draw in Marseille, France.

BOXING: Edwin Rosario, a former lightweight champion whose career was marred by cocaine, died of acute pulmonary edema that could have been caused by drug or alcohol abuse, a pathologist said. Rosario, 34, died Monday night at his parents' home in Toa Baja, a San Juan, Puerto Rico, suburb.