College football roundup: Louisiana Tech player found dead

Louisiana Tech running back Tyrone Duplessis has been found dead at his off-campus apartment.

The chief investigator for the Lincoln Parish coroner's office, Hazel Woods, told multiple media outlets that the cause of death has yet to be determined. An autopsy is pending.

Duplessis' body was found Thursday morning. Head coach Sonny Dykes has told the team, according to Louisiana Tech spokesman Patrick Walsh.

A New Orleans native, Duplessis played in two games in his sophomore-eligible season, after missing the 2010 season with a knee injury. He had 70 carries for 277 yards as a true freshman in 2009.

--- Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel is heading to the University of Akron.

The school hired Tressel for the newly created position of vice president for strategic engagement. He will start May 1 and earn $200,000 a year.

Tressel, who was forced to resign last May amid a scandal at Ohio State, will work with alumni, community organizations and friends of the school to develop initiatives to help students.

---University of Minnesota athletics director Joel Maturi will retire this summer when his contract expires, the 67-year-old announced Thursday.

Maturi spent 10 years at the school. His greatest accomplishment was to secure a new, outdoor football stadium, though he was also criticized for being slow to shed high-profile coaches who weren't winning.

---Less than a month after holding his tongue regarding quarterback recruit Gunner Kiel's decision to reverse his LSU commitment, Tigers head football coach Les Miles also changed course.

During an appearance at the Tiger Gridiron Club's annual national letter of intent day "Bayou Bash," Miles questioned Kiel's ability to lead, and said the program is better off with Jeremy Liggins.

Liggins, was rated No. 118 in the ESPNU 150 and No. 12 at his position.

In video footage posted on the website of The Daily Reveille, the student newspaper at LSU, Miles said the Tigers needed a quarterback in the 2012 recruiting class.

"There was a gentleman from Indiana that thought about coming to the Bayou state," Miles said, referring to Kiel. "He didn't necessarily have the chest and the ability to lead a program."

Kiel enrolled early at Notre Dame on Jan. 17.

---One of the laywers for Jerry Sandusky cited "embellished" rhetoric from the attorney general for the public upheaval that led to the firing of Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

Karl Rominger told ABC27 News (Harrisburg, Pa.) Wednesday night that Paterno was the victim of a media furor ignited by the attorney general's office and alleged that prosecutors made November's grand jury revelations against Sandusky so graphic that it caused Paterno's dismissal.

--- Brian Johnson is just 24 years old, but he will be the new offensive coordinator at Utah, replacing Norm Chow, who left to become the head coach at Hawaii. Johnson had been the Utes??? quarterback coach and will continue in that capacity as well.

--- Lou Tepper, a former head coach at Illinois, has been named the defensive coordinator at Buffalo, the school announced.

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