BASKETBALL
Hawks fire Pierce
Atlanta Hawks Coach Lloyd Pierce was fired on Monday following a disappointing start to a season of heightened expectations. Hawks President Travis Schlenk announced the move in a short statement released by the team. The Hawks are 14-20 and 11th in the Eastern Conference, following a 109-99 loss at Miami on Sunday night. Pierce, hired in 2018, was 63-120 (.344) with the Hawks, missing the playoffs in each of his two completed seasons.
NIT moving to Texas
The NIT is moving the entire 2021 event to Texas, taking the semifinals and championship game out of New York's Madison Square Garden for the first time in the 83-year history of college basketball's oldest postseason tournament. The coronavirus pandemic also is reducing the field to 16 teams from the usual 32, and all games are set for the Dallas area. The two venues are the University of North Texas in Denton and an arena in Frisco that is home to a G League team affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. First-round games will be played March 17-20, with the quarterfinals March 25. The semifinals are set for March 27, followed by the championship game the next day. Specific arenas for each round weren't announced Monday. The field for the NIT will be announced after the NCAA Tournament is set March 14.
Hamilton gets extension
No. 11 Florida State has extended Coach Leonard Hamilton's contract through the 2024-25 season. The school announced the extension Monday, with the deal set to keep Hamilton on the FSU sideline until he is 76 years old. It will pay about $562,500 for the remainder of this season and then about $2.3 million for each of the next four seasons. Those figures are separate from numerous performance incentives such as $150,000 for winning an Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season or tournament title, $275,000 for reaching a Final Four and $500,00 for winning a national championship. Hamilton, 72, is the winningest coach in program history in his 19-year run with FSU and a three-time ACC coach of the year. That included last season, when the Seminoles won the league regular-season title for the first time and were declared tournament champions after the league called off the remaining rounds amid the covid-19 pandemic.
FOOTBALL
Bears hire Herman
The Chicago Bears hired former Texas coach Tom Herman in an analyst role on Matt Nagy's staff Monday, his first NFL job after more than two decades of college coaching. Herman led Texas to a 32-18 record and four bowl victories the past four seasons. But he failed to deliver a Big 12 title or lead the Longhorns into national championship contention and got fired in January, with Steve Sarkisian replacing him. Herman had two successful seasons coaching Houston before taking the Texas job. He was previously an assistant at Ohio State (2012-14), Iowa State (2009-11), Rice (2007-08), Texas State (2005-06), Sam Houston State (2001-04), Texas (graduate assistant, 1999--2000) and Texas Lutheran (1998).
TENNIS
Federer WDs from Miami
Roger Federer is withdrawing from this month's Miami Open so he can spend extra time preparing to "work his way back out on tour," his agent told The Associated Press on Monday. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has not competed in more than a year after having two operations on his right knee during last season. Federer, who turns 40 in August, is scheduled to make his return to the tour next week in a hard-court tournament at Doha, Qatar. He posted a photo of himself on Twitter last Friday with the caption: "The countdown to Doha begins." That will be his first event since he reached the semifinals at the Australian Open in February 2020. As of now, he also is slated to participate in the hard-court tournament at Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that begins March 14.
Brady loses in Qatar
Jennifer Brady lost her first match since the Australian Open final, falling to Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Qatar Open on Monday. Brady, who lost to Naomi Osaka in her first major final just over a week ago, made 25 unforced errors against her Estonian opponent. Kontaveit had only nine unforced errors and didn't face a single break point against the seventh-seeded American. Kontaveit will play three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the second round after the German beat wild card "I was expecting a very, very tough match but I'm very happy with the way I played and very pleased to get to the second round," Kontaveit said. Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-4, 6-2. Garbine Muguruza beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 7-6 (4) to book a second-round match with last year's Doha winner, Aryna Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye.