Rickey Foggie's declaration that he still plans to pursue the Eagan football head coaching position drew little public response Thursday from the school district in which the high school is located.

"[Foggie] withdrew his name from consideration Monday and at that point we moved forward to fill the position," said Tony Taschner, communications director for Independent School District 196. "Other than that, we're limited in what we can say due to data privacy regulations."

Foggie, a University of Minnesota quarterback in the mid-1980s, was hired to be Eagan's head football coach May 13. A link on his personal Twitter account to a website promoting pornography was brought to the attention of the school administration, leading to Foggie withdrawing his name.

Foggie said the Twitter follow to the site was unintentional and that he took steps, at the request of school administrators, to rectify the situation, including removing the Twitter account and meeting with team members Monday morning. The district administration met with him again that evening and, Foggie said, gave him no choice but to resign.

"I felt like I was backed into a corner because I felt the only thing I had left was to protect my reputation," Foggie said Wednesday. "But after having the opportunity to talk to some other people, I'm willing to fight because what they did wasn't right."

Jim Paulsen

Tommies lose opener

No. 12 St. Thomas lost 3-2 to No. 9 Emory (Ga.) Thursday in its opening game of the eight-team, double-elimination NCAA Division III softball tournament in Salem, Va.

St. Thomas (43-7), after falling behind 3-0, scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings but also had a runner thrown out at home each of those innings. Dana Connelly had an RBI double for the Tommies' first run, Chase Shortly drove in the second run on a bloop single.

Next St. Thomas will play St. John Fisher at 10 a.m. Friday.

Top honor to UMD star

Senior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski of Minnesota Duluth was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's national player of the year.

Senior third baseman Kyle Comer of the Bulldogs joined Wojciechowski on the NCBWA All-America first team.

St. Cloud State pitcher Reese Gregory also made the first team.

Etc.

• Andrew Rock, Bethel's head men's and women's track and field coach, and his wife, Missy, a Royals assistant cross-country coach, were inducted into the NCAA Division III Athlete Hall of Fame.

Andrew Rock, who attended Wisconsin-La Crosse, earned a spot on the Athens 2004 U.S. Olympic squad, where he won a gold medal as part of the 4x400-meter relay. Missy Rock won 14 NCAA titles as a member of the track and cross-country teams at Wartburg College.

• The NCAA men's hockey championship trophy will make four stops around the state of North Dakota from Wednesday to June 4 at SCHEELS locations in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot, UND announced.

• St. Olaf volleyball coach Cindy Book, who announced her retirement in November, was recently presented with MIAC Distinguished Service Award.

• Bree Woelber of Augustana is in third place with 3,183 points after four of the seven events in the heptathlon in the NCAA Division II women's track and field meet in Bradenton, Fla. … Davina Carr of Mary was second in the pole vault (13 feet, 3½ inches) while Sioux Falls (S.D.) teammates Kimberly Peterson and Courtney Crandall took fourth and fifth.

• St. Cloud State's Ryan Johnson placed fourth in the hammer throw (188-8) in the men's Division II meet while Minnesota Moorhead's Brian Huber was fifth in the long jump (25-0).