Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — FOOTBALL Miles’ raise approved

LSU Coach Les Miles has a new seven-year contract that pays him a $4.3 million annual salary and keeps him in Tiger Stadium through the 2019 season. The university system’s board of supervisors backed the contract extension Friday, giving Miles a $549,000 - or 15 percent - increase. Since becoming LSU’s coach in 2005, Miles has lodged the second-highest number of victories in university history, with a record of 85-21. LSU finished No. 14 for the 2012 season, going 10-3 and losing to Clemson in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

BASEBALL Hafner, Yankees agree

Travis Hafner and the New York Yankees have agreed to a $2 million, one-year contract that allows him to earn up to $4 million more in bonuses based on plate appearances. Hafner played in only 66 games for Cleveland last year because of knee and back problems and hit .228 with 12 home runs and 34 RBI in 263 at-bats. The Indians declined a $13 million option, electing to pay him a $2.75 million buyout. He spent 10 years with Cleveland and is a .278 career hitter with 201 home runs and 694 RBI.

Left-hander Manny Parra and the Cincinnati Reds have agreed to a $1 million, one-year contract. The 30-year-old Parra had spent all five of his big league seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers. After missing 2011 with back and elbow injuries, he went 3-10 with a 5.06 ERA last year in 16 starts and 26 relief appearances.

Left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and the St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to a $1.1 million, one-year contract and avoided salary arbitration. The 27-year-old was 1-3 with a 4.24 ERA in 70 games last year, when he made $501,000. Eligible for arbitration for the first time, he had asked for $1.3 million and been offered $900,000 when figures were exchanged last month.

BASKETBALL Sullinger has surgery

The Boston Celtics have announced that first-round draft choice Jared Sullinger underwent successful lumbar disk surgery Friday and will miss the rest of the season. He is expected to be ready in time for next season’s training camp. Sullinger appeared in 45 games, averaging six pointsand 5.9 rebounds in 19.8 minutes per game.

HOCKEY Thornton out

The Boston Bruins say forward Shawn Thornton will miss 7-10 days with a concussion. Thornton was injured in the first period of Thursday night’s game against Buffalo when he fought with Sabres forward John Scott. He did not return. Thornton has one goal and 25 penalty minutes this season.

SNOWBOARDING White wins gold

Shaun White fell on his first run at the U.S. Grand Prix on Friday after over rotating a trick, ending up with a face plant near the bottom of the 22-foot super pipe in Park City, Utah. Yet the two-time Olympic champion still walked away with gold after a clean second run with plenty of big air earned him 97.25 points. Scott Lago finished second with 94.50 points and Luke Mitrani was third with 91.75 to complete an American sweep. The women’s gold went to China’s Jiayu Lui, who posted an 82 on her second run to edge American rookie Arielle Gold (80.25). American Kaitlyn Farrington was third with 73.25 points.

BOXING Soliman beats Sturm

Sam Soliman defeated former WBA champion Felix Sturm by unanimous decision in their IBF middleweight fight Friday night in Duesseldorf, Germany. Soliman was knocked down in the second round, but got up and improved as the bout went on. The judges awarded it 116-111, 114-113, 114-113 to the 39-year-old Australian, who will next fight compatriot Daniel Geale for the IBF title. Soliman improved to 42-11 with 17 KOs, while Sturm dropped to 37-4-2 (16 KOs) on the day after his 34th birthday. It was the German’s second consecutive defeat after losing his WBA title to Geale in September.

TENNIS

Errani reaches semifinals

Top-seeded Sara Errani needed more than three hours to beat unseeded Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the Open GDF Suez quarterfinals Friday in Paris, while second-seeded Petra Kvitova and No. 3 Marion Bartoli both lost. Errani will play Kiki Bertens in the semifinals of the indoor tournament. Bertens followed up her second-round victory against fourth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova with another upset, beating No. 6 Lucie Safarova 6-1, 7-5. Kristina Mladenovic downed Kvitova 6-3, 6-4, and Mona Barthel eliminated Bartoli 7-6 (7), 6-4.

Second-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia reached the Pattaya (Thailand) Open semifinals by beating Elena Vesnina 7-6 (6), 6-3 Friday. Kirilenko, who last year lost to Ana Ivanovic in the final, will take on Sorana Cirstea of Romania today. Cirstea defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-0. Another Russian, Nina Bratchikova, ended Ayumi Morita’s run in the tournament with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 victory. Bratchikova will face fifth-seeded Sabine Lisicki, who beat Marina Erakovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

BASKETBALL NBA union head placed on indefinite leave

NEW YORK - NBA players put union chief Billy Hunter on an indefinite leave Friday, two weeks after a report they commissioned questioned Hunter’s leadership and criticized him for bad decisions and questionable business practices.

The union is forming an interim executive committee and an advisory committee, the group’s president, Derek Fisher (Little Rock Parkview, UALR), said in a statement released Friday. An outside attorney is also being hired as players begin moving forward, likely without the man who has guided them since 1996.

Hunter’s attorney responded that the actions weren’t allowable under NBPA rules, setting up the possibility of a Hunter fight to keep to his job.

Fisher pushed for the outside review of Hunter and the union. That examination by a New York law firm found no illegal use of funds but cited Hunter for a number of poor choices and recommended players discuss whether he should remain in charge during their All-Star weekend meetings.

“Because of the unusual circumstances at the union, a result of mismanagement extensively documented by the Paul, Weiss report, the committees have decided to take immediate actions that allow them to assess the situation fully and build a stronger, more effective organization that better represents their membership,” the statement released through Fisher’s publicist said.

Released Jan. 17 after an eight month review, the report found that Hunter was aware his $3 million per year contract was never properly approved. It also criticized his hiring of family members and friends, and said there were other conflicts of interests he should have avoided.

Fisher’s statement said that because of the ongoing investigations being conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. attorney’s office, the players wanted the executive committee to take steps to protect them.

“Unfortunately, it appears that union management has lost sight of the NBPA’s only task, to serve the best interests of their membership. This is the reason I called for a review almost a year ago,” Fisher said. “The findings of that review confirm this unfortunate truth and we must now move forward as players. Immediate change is necessary and I, along with the committee members, are committed to driving the process as difficult as it may be.”

Union attorney Ron Klempner will be the acting executive director “until further decisions can be made.”

Fisher is not on an NBA team, having asked the Dallas Mavericks for his release earlier this season. The statement said he will be on site at the NBPA office in New York to assist during the transition.

“We ask for the cooperation, trust and patience of the players, their representatives and some of our hard-working NBPA staff as we navigate through this situation,” he said. “But rest assured that our goal is to do what is right for the players and we will emerge stronger than before.”