Around the horn

The coaching carousel continues. After North Carolina cleared the way for former Kansas coach Roy Williams to take over the Tar Heels' head basketball position, it started a coaching power vacuum that will play itself out over the next few weeks. After the Jayhawks lost Williams, they lured Bill Self away from Illinois. Now Illinois is after a handful of coaches but not Tom Crean, who recently signed an extension with Marquette.... Speaking of coaches moving on, legendary comic-strip manager Gil Thorp has been waived by The Chicago Tribune after a 45-year run in the Tribune's sports section. The newspaper's head of the sports section insisted the comic wasn't pulled because of its recent pro-life story line. Instead, the sports editor told a trade magazine he needed extra space for the scoreboard page.... Alabama Crimson Tide offensive lineman Wesley Britt is the latest in a growing number of college football players spurning Playboy and its college football all-America team. The 6-foot-8-inch, 312-pound junior said he couldn't justify accepting an award from the pornographic magazine in light of his beliefs. "After thinking about it for awhile, I decided this is not one of my goals. I put God first and I set my goals for Him," Mr. Britt told The Cullman Times.... Rickey Henderson wants one more chance to play. The agent of the future Hall of Famer said Mr. Henderson will sign a minor-league contract with an Atlantic League team soon and try to work himself back onto a major-league roster. Mr. Henderson, now 44, broke into the majors as a 20-year-old in 1979 and is widely considered the greatest leadoff hitter ever.