USOC Chief External Affairs Officer PATRICK SANDUSKY will miss the Pyeongchang Games after a recent surgery. USOC Managing Dir of Communications MARK JONES, already scheduled to make the trip, will handle Sandusky’s duties at the Games. During the Olympics, USOC communications experts help individual sports’ PR staffs and manage media relations for USOC leadership. Sandusky is expected to recover fully and return to work in Colorado Springs in time for next month's Games, but doctors have recommended against travel. Sandusky, a top lieutenant to USOC CEO SCOTT BLACKMUN, has attended four Olympics in this role since he joined the organization in '09 (Ben Fischer, Staff Writer).
TALK THINGS OVER: U.S. Magistrate Judge COLIN LINDSAY ordered the attorneys in RICK PITINO's lawsuit against the Univ. of Louisville Athletic Association to "discuss a possible settlement" no later than Feb. 8. The purpose of the meeting, which is routine, is to "either examine the possibility of reaching a settlement or to set a tentative schedule for discovery and trial proceedings." The judge will have the "authority during a March 1 teleconference to make changes to the schedule the attorneys devise" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 1/9).
NAMES: Former Baylor football coach ART BRILES was "scheduled to speak" tomorrow at the '18 American Football Coaches Association convention in Charlotte, but his session "was canceled 'due to concerns,'" according to a statement from AFCA Exec Dir TODD BERRY (ESPN.com, 1/8)....New N.Y. City Council Speaker COREY JOHNSON and Mayor BILL DE BLASIO, the city’s two top elected officials, are Red Sox fans. Johnson said, “I am honest about the fact that I grew up going to Fenway Park and the Boston Garden and Foxboro Stadium as a child. I support the Red Sox and Celtics and Bruins and Patriots” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/9)....Former White House Press Secretary ARI FLEISCHER last night before the CFP title game was spotted “leaving the special guest hospitality room at the Ritz Atlanta” (POLITICO.com, 1/9).
