to Kansas State After a restless retirement, coach Bill Snyder is ready to turn Kansas State into a winner again. Three years after handing off a successful Wildcats program to Ron Prince, the 69-year-old Snyder was hired to take charge of the school he transformed from college football's biggest losers to national championship contenders. Prince was fired this month but is completing the season. Snyder signed a five-year contract for a base salary of $250,000.Tim Tebow will get a chance to repeat as winner of the Maxwell Award, given to college football's top player. The Florida quarterback was one of three finalists announced yesterday, along with QBs Graham Harrell of Texas Tech and Colt McCoy of Texas. The Doak Walker finalists for best running back are Sicklerville native Shonn Greene of Iowa, Middletown South grad Knowshon Moreno of Georgia and Javon Ringer of Michigan State.

Baseball Three charges against Barry Bonds were dismissed yesterday by a federal judge who left intact most of the indictment alleging Bonds lied to a grand jury when he denied knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds is scheduled for a March 2 trial. He had faced 14 counts of making false declarations to a grand jury investigating steroid use in sports and one count of obstruction of justice.The Pittsburgh Pirates hope Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel really do have million-dollar arms. The two 20-year-old pitchers, neither of whom had picked up a Baseball until earlier this year, signed free-agent contracts with the Pirates. They are believed to be the first athletes from India to sign professional sports contracts outside their country. Singh and Patel came to the United States six months ago after being the top finishers in an Indian reality TV show called the "Million Dollar Arm" that drew about 30,000 contestants. The show sought to find athletes who could throw strikes at 85 mph or faster.

SKIING His NFL experience didn't go as planned. Still, Jeremy Bloom isn't through looking for mountains to climb. Cut from the Pittsburgh Steelers this summer, the two-time Olympian rejoined the U.S. ski team yesterday, the first step toward possibly reviving his freestyle skiing career in time for the Vancouver Games. He'll attend the team's annual fall camp to evaluate how he feels.

CROSS COUNTRY Oregon's Galen Rupp won the men's NCAA cross-country title and the Ducks grabbed their second consecutive championship. Sally Kipyego of Texas Tech won her third straight women's title and top-ranked Washington captured the women's title.

CYCLING Alberto Contador, the 2007 Tour de France champion, underwent surgery for a deviated septum and is expected to be at training camp this weekend to meet new teammate Lance Armstrong. Armstrong, the seven-time Tour champion, came out of retirement to ride for the Kazakh team.Austrian cyclist Bernhard Kohl was banned for two years by the national anti-doping agency for using the blood booster CERA at this year's Tour de France. Kohl, who finished third in the Tour, admitted he used the drug, the latest version of the endurance-boosting hormone EPO.

SOCCER The Los Angeles Galaxy acquired forward Jovan Kirovski from the San Jose Earthquakes in exchange for a conditional pick in the 2010 MLS supplemental draft. The five-year veteran has 24 goals and 10 assists.

-Associated Press