College notes: Cowboys Stadium may get first national title game

Cowboys Stadium is gaining momentum in efforts to become the host site for college football's 2015 national championship game, the first of the playoff era, according to a CBSSports.com report that cited unnamed, high-ranking college football officials.

But the Friday report said a decision is far from final and negotiations have yet to begin with any site for the game.

Stadium and AT&T Cotton Bowl officials have expressed a desire to land the game, as well as optimism that a national title game will come to Arlington at some point in the future.

But a spokesman said Friday that formal negotiations about the 2015 game are not likely to begin until this year's round of bowl games have concluded.

Vols hire Jones

Tennessee hired Butch Jones of Cincinnati as its new football coach.

Jones replaces Derek Dooley, who was fired Nov. 18 after going 15-21 in three seasons.

He is the Volunteers' fourth coach in six seasons.

Jones, 44, has a 50-27 record in six seasons as a head coach. He went 27-13 in three seasons at Central Michigan and was 23-14 at Cincinnati the past three years.

TCU recognized

TCU was recognized Friday for its high graduation rates by the American Football Coaches Association for the fifth consecutive season.

TCU's football team is one of 18 with a graduation rate of 90 percent or better for student-athletes who entered as freshmen in 2005.

TCU's 20 seniors have either graduated, will graduate next week, or are on track to graduate in May.

Briefly

Oklahoma women's basketball: Senior Whitney Hand, from Fort Worth, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee Thursday.

NCAA volleyball: Texas swept Florida 3-0 in Austin and advanced to the regional final against USC.

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