North Carolina baseball coach Mike Fox, who led the Tar Heels to their third straight trip to the College World Series earlier this month, is Baseball America's National Coach of the Year.

Fox is the first UNC baseball coach to receive national honors, according to a UNC news release.

The Tar Heels (54-14) lost to eventual national champion Fresno State at the CWS.

(Robbi Pickeral)

FOOTBALL

WILKERSON LEAVES DUKE: Duke coach David Cutcliffe announced Monday that Justin Wilkerson has left the program and intends to transfer to another school. A 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end from Oxford Webb, Wilkerson did not play as a freshman in 2007.

GA. TECH PLAYER CHARGED WITH RAPE: Georgia Tech cornerback Jerrard Tarrant has been charged with rape and has been suspended from the football team.

Tarrant, 19, was released Saturday on $40,000 bail, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound redshirt freshman from Carrollton, Ga., was considered a potential starter at cornerback.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

ECU ADDS TO STAFF: East Carolina coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener announced that Adrienne Shuler and Allison Nichols have been named to her staff. Shuler, the former head coach at Appalachian State, will serve as an assistant coach. Nichols, a former assistant at Augusta State, will be the director of basketball operations.

(The Associated Press)

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