Kiffin, Davis Faceoff in Arbitration Hearing

Day Two of Al Davis Football, Inc. versus fired former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin saw the two combatants face-to-face Tuesday for the first time since September 2008. This expensive legal skirmish over disputed back pay is getting nastier by the day, and neither side seems eager to blink. In Kiffin’s battle to recoup about $2.6 million in salary withheld when Davis fired him for cause Sept. 30, the new University of Tennessee head coach showed up at an Oakland hotel to stare down his former boss as part of his arbitration hearing. – San Francisco Chronicle

Colorado, Toledo on Agree to Friday Night Game

Contracts haven’t been signed yet but it appears the Colorado football team will play at Toledo on Sept. 11 (a Friday night) on ESPN next fall instead of playing at Miami (Ohio) as originally planned. While this looks like the most likely option and the bureaucracy of making it happen is definitely in the works, it’s not a done deal until the schools actually announce it. It is unclear whether Miami will pay CU the $750,000- cancellation fee required in the game contract signed by the two institutions in 2006, or if the Mid American Conference lining up another opponent will be good enough for CU officials. – Daily Camera

Mumme Discusses Battle with Prostate Cancer

Early this year, the biopsy came back positive. Hal Mumme had prostate cancer. As a high-profile college football coach, most recently at New Mexico State University, Mumme essentially had two choices: Tell no one, or tell the whole world. His wife, June, a cancer survivor herself, had spent much of the past decade trying to tell the whole world about breast cancer. And since prostate cancer is actually more common than breast cancer, Mumme soon realized he had no choice at all. According to the National Cancer Institute, one in eight women will get breast cancer, but one in six men will get prostate cancer. “One in three after age 55,” said Mumme, 56, and a quick study on the disease men don’t want to discuss. – Sun-News

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K-State Opting out of Miami series

The Canes will try to accommodate Kansas State’s request to escape games against UM in 2011 and 2012. UM has Florida A&M, at Ohio State, at Pittsburgh and USF in 2010, but only two non-conference games booked in 2011 (Ohio State, at USF) and 2012 (Cincinnati, USF). – Miami Herald

Nutt Gets Extension, Raise

Ole Miss football coach Houston Nutt will make $2.5 million per season and has had his contract extended through 2012, according to the March board book of the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning. Those numbers are consistent with what The Clarion-Ledger reported in December, but this is the first time the school has made the salary public. Only a small portion of Nutt’s salary - $200,000 - comes from the state. The other $2.3 million is paid for by the UMAA, a private fundraising wing of the athletic department. Nutt’s $2.5 million salary does not include any incentive information. The second-year coach’s previous deal had several ways to earn extra money, including bowl game appearances or winning an SEC championship. – Clarion-Ledger

Miami, Notre Dame Could Renew Rivalry

After a nearly two-decade break, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the Fighting Irish is ”very interested” in playing Miami again in football, and the interest is mutual. UM’s Kirby Hocutt initiated talks with Swarbrick, who became Notre Dame’s athletic director in July. No dates are set, but talks will resume in April, Swarbrick said by phone Monday. NBC’s Notre Dame contract includes seven Irish home games and one prime-time neutral site game annually through 2015. ”You could do that,” Swarbrick said of the neutral site game, “plus do one home and home.” – Miami Herald

Littlepage, Groh in Jeopardy at Virginia

Virginia fired men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao today, and athletic director Craig Littlepage will follow if the next coach doesn’t succeed. Yes, the school is calling the divorce a resignation, but no one’s buying that jive. Leitao was summoned to a meeting today, and he departed with $2.1 million in severance, certainly a better parting gift than the home version of “Jeopardy!” Littlepage is a basketball guy, a former coach and chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee. Leitao, a former head coach at DePaul and Northeastern, and a protege of hall of famer Jim Calhoun, was his choice to succeed Pete Gillen. Four seasons and one NCAA bid later, Leitao is history. His teams were 55-60, and this year’s 10-18 mark is the program’s worst since 1967. That’s a serious dent in Littlepage’s reputation. And what of a football backlash? Are donors so angry about football coach Al Groh’s continued employment, and the overall malaise surrounding Virginia’s two marquee sports, that they wanted someone’s, anyone’s, head on a sabre? – Daily Press