St. Louis ? The St. Louis Rams and Steve Spagnuolo agreed Saturday on a four-year contract to make the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator their coach. The team said in a release that Spagnuolo would be introduced at a news conference Monday.

“We considered some very qualified and outstanding candidates for this position, but we kept coming back to Steve Spagnuolo,” general manager Billy Devaney said in a statement.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was the first to report the hiring and said Spagnuolo would be paid just under $12 million.

Spagnuolo replaces Jim Haslett and takes over a team that finished 2-14. Haslett went 2-10 as interim coach after his promotion from defensive coordinator when Scott Linehan was fired following an 0-4 start.

Spagnuolo was the architect of the Giants’ sack-happy defense that thwarted New England’s run to a perfect season in last year’s Super Bowl upset.

Spagnuolo was one of five finalists for the job, along with Haslett, Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and defensive coordinators Rex Ryan of Baltimore and Leslie Frazier of Minnesota.

NFL

Bucs promote Morris

Tampa, Fla. — A day after abruptly firing Super Bowl winner Jon Gruden, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have introduced Raheem Morris as their new coach.

Morris inherits a team that won three division titles under his predecessor but has hasn’t won a playoff game since capturing the franchise’s only NFL title in January 2003. The Gruden era ended with four consecutive losses that denied the Bucs a postseason spot following a 9-3 start.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Texas suspends coach

Austin, Texas — University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido was suspended indefinitely with pay Saturday after his early-morning arrest on a drunken-driving charge.

Police stopped the winningest coach in major-college baseball near downtown Austin just before 1 a.m. Saturday after an officer became suspicious of his driving, Austin police detective James Mason said. Garrido was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

NU’s Lucky leads East

Houston — Nebraska’s Marlon Lucky rushed for 68 yards and a touchdown, and the East defense stopped the West three times inside the 10-yard line to secure a 24-19 victory in the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday.

GOLF

Fujikawa fires 62 at Sony

Honolulu — Tadd Fujikawa shot an 8-under 62 on Saturday in the Sony Open that left him two shots out of the lead. Zach Johnson had a 65 and finished atop the leaderboard.

Norman, Haas take lead

Kaanapali, Hawaii — Greg Norman and Jay Haas won the first three skins worth $90,000 and had the lead after nine holes Saturday in the Champions Skins Game. Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw were in second place with one skin worth $30,000.

TENNIS

Nalbandian claims crown

Sydney, Australia — David Nalbandian overcame an inconsistent serve and a string of unforced errors to defeat Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-2, on Saturday in the Sydney International final.

NCAA

Coaches’ APR planned

Oxon Hill, Md. — The NCAA will be keeping score on how seriously a coach takes graduation. The organization said Saturday it would move ahead with plans to create an Academic Progress Report for coaches, one that could be posted on the Internet by summer of 2010. The NCAA already has an APR for schools, which was introduced four years ago and is used to penalize teams whose athletes consistently perform poorly in the classroom.

NCAA chief has cancer

Oxon Hill, Md. — NCAA president Myles Brand said Saturday he has pancreatic cancer and his long-term prognosis is “not good.” The 66-year-old Brand has led the governing body of college sports since 2003. He disclosed his condition in a written statement to colleagues on the final day of the NCAA Convention, which he was unable to attend. He said he learned of the diagnosis “very recently.”

AUTO RACING

Indy practice shortened

Indianapolis — The Indy Racing League is cutting two days from its Indianapolis 500 practice schedule to save money. Most of the 16 other IndyCar Series races also will have shortened practice times.