Luchi Gonzalez, who guided the San Jose Earthquakes to their most recent MLS playoff appearance during his first season as head coach 2023 but was fired midway through the following season, is returning to the organization as Academy Director, the team announced Friday.

Gonzalez, 44, will oversee all aspects of the Quakes Academy, which has teams in the Under-14 through U-18 levels in MLS NEXT, the league’s youth player development program in North America. Gonzalez, who made his MLS debut as a player with the Quakes in 2002, started in coaching with the highly successful FC Dallas Academy as its director from 2016-18.

Gonzalez was hired as the Quakes’ head coach in August 2022, but because of his commitment to the U.S. national team as an assistant during the World Cup he didn’t join the team until 2023. The Quakes went 10-10-14 to reach the Western Conference playoffs for the first time in three years. They lost in the wild-card round to Sporting Kansas City.

Eight months later, the Quakes fired Gonzalez when an eight-game winless stretch left the team with a league-worst 3-14-2 record. Ian Russell coached the team for the rest of last season, and in November the Quakes hired Bruce Arena, the winningest coach in MLS history.

— Laurence Miedema

Golf

Kim leads LPGA season opener by 3 shots >> A Lim Kim made enough birdies in an up-and-down second round to maintain a cushion between herself and top-ranked Nelly Korda at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Fla., the LGPA Tour season opener.

Kim shot 69 at Lake Nona for a two-day total of 10-under 134, making six birdies and three bogeys after her bogey-free opening round. That was good for a three-shot lead over Linn Grant (67) and four shots better than Korda, who had a 67.

Rio Takeda (68) and Leona Maguire (68) also were four shots back.

Former San Jose Sharks star Joe Pavelski led the celebrity leaderboard, one point ahead of Mardy Fish.

NHL

Salary cap getting big increase over next 3 seasons >> The NHL salary cap is going up significantly next season, with even bigger increases set for the coming years.

The league and the Players’ Association released the cap numbers for the next three seasons: $95.5 million in 2025-26, $104 million in ’26-27 and $113.5 million in ’27-28. The cap is $88 million this season, and each leap is the biggest since it was implemented in 2005 at $39 million.

Revenue reaching new record highs thanks to U.S. media rights deals, jersey and board advertisements and other sources are the reasons for the increases.

The sides agreed on the numbers to “provide increased predictability on core salary cap economics,” they said in a joint news release. The cap floor is set at $70.6 million in ‘25-26, $76.9 million in ’26-27 and $83.9 million in ‘27-28.

The current CBA expires after next season, though it’s possible an extension is done well ahead of that deadline.

Seattle’s Gourde out 5-7 weeks after surgery >> Seattle Kraken center Yanni Gourde is expected to be out five to seven weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia.

General manager Ron Francis provided the medical update on Gourde, hours after the surgery took place in the morning.

That recovery timeframe risks the possibility that Gourde will not play before the NHL trade deadline on March 7. Gourde, a dependable two-way player, should be one of the top rental options.

WNBA

Indiana set to sign Howard >> The Indiana Fever expect to sign forward Natasha Howard when free agency opens today, adding a two-time All-Star to a lineup already featuring three All-Stars including point guard Caitlin Clark.

The 33-year-old Howard missed part of last season with a broken foot but averaged 17.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.3 steals with Dallas.