Off the wire

SOCCER

Manchester fires manager

David Moyes was fired as Manchester United’s manager on Tuesday, paying the price for the club’s spectacular and sudden decline in his 10 months in charge since replacing Alex Ferguson. United released a brief statement on its website, saying Moyes has left the club and that it “would like to place on record its thanks for the hard work, honesty and integrity he brought to the role.” The 50-year-old Scot was removed from his post by vice-chairman Ed Woodward during a meeting at United’s training ground in the morning. There was no initial announcement about who would replace Moyes, although British media was reporting that Ryan Giggs, a club great who was on Moyes’ coaching staff, would take charge on a temporary basis. Dutch Coach Louis van Gaal and Borussia Dortmund Coach Juergen Klopp have been linked strongly with the vacancy. Moyes’ position has been in doubt since Sunday, when United lost 2-0to Everton in the Premier League to ensure England’s biggest club over the past two decades will miss out on Champions League qualification for the first time in 19 years. It also left United seventh in the league, a season after winning its 20th championship by 11 points, and on course for its lowest league finish since 1990.

BASKETBALL

Randle to enter NBA Draft

Kentucky forward Julius Randle will leave after one season to enter the NBA Draft, where he is expected to be among the top five selections. With five days left before the deadline for underclassmen to declare, the 6-9 Dallas native announced the decision many expected even before he arrived as part of Kentucky’s best recruiting class ever. Projected as a lottery pick from the outset, Randle solidified his draft stock by leading Kentucky (29-11) to the NCAA final despite being double and triple-teamed. Randle averaged15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds and was voted to The Associated Press’ All-America second team.

Baylor sophomore center Isaiah Austin has decided to forgo the remainder of his collegiate eligibility to enter the NBA Draft. The 7-1 Austin, who has a prosthetic right eye, averaged 12.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in his 73 games the past two seasons with the Bears. Bears Coach Scott Drew made the announcement Tuesday, five days before the early entry deadline and just more than a month after Baylor went the NCAA Sweet 16. Austin might have been a first-round NBA pick after his freshman season last summer, but couldn’t do pre-draft workouts because of a torn labrum in his shoulder. NBA scouts at Baylor games this season said they already knew about Austin’s eye issue before the player revealed his blindness publicly in January.

Clemson junior K.J. McDaniels is leaving school for the NBA Draft. McDaniels, who led the team in points, rebounds, blocks and steals, announced his departure Tuesday. In several NBA mock drafts, the 6-6 forward is projected as a middle-to late selection in the first round. McDaniels was Clemson’s unquestioned star also led the Tigers in three-point goals last season.

Louisville has signed 7-1 forward/center Anas Osama Mahmoud to a national letter of intent. Mahmoud played last season for West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Fla., averaging 13.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots per game. The Cairo, Egypt, native has also played for his country’s national teams.

University of Illinois police said basketball player Darius Paul faces preliminary charges of resisting a peace officer and unlawful consumption of alcohol by a minor. Police say they arrested the 20-year-old sophomore early Tuesday on campus. Capt. Roy Acree said an officer spotted two men crossing a parking lot around 3:20 a.m. The officer lost sight of the two but from her car spotted one a short distance away. Acree said the man turned and walked away from the car and ran when told to stop. Another officer tackled the man. Police say he said he had been drinking.

TENNIS Sharapova advances

Defending champion Maria Sharapova survived a first-round scare at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, by defeating Lucie Safarova 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2) on Tuesday. The sixth-seeded Sharapova needed three hours, 24 minutes for her 100th clay victory, three days after her 27th birthday. Sharapova, who is bidding to win the tournament for the third time in a row, next faces fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated Latvian qualifier Diana Marcinkevica 6-3, 6-2. Jelena Jankovic, the No. 5 seed, saved four match points to come back and claim a 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3 win over German lucky loser Mona Barthel.

BASKETBALL Tyndall, Vols agree to 6 years at $1.6 million

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee’s men’s basketball coaching position had just become available when Donnie Tyndall received a text message urging him to pursue the job.

This particular message did not come from Tyndall’s agent. It instead was from his 11-year-old daughter, Grace Elizabeth. Her note said in all capital letters that “THE TENNESSEE JOB IS OPEN. HINT, HINT.”

“Certainly this is a job that was on my radar, and Gracie’s too,” Tyndall saidTuesday at his introductory news conference as Tennessee’s coach.

Tyndall agreed to a six-year contract worth $1.6 million per year to replace Cuonzo Martin, who went 63-41 in three seasons at Tennessee before California hired him April 15.

Tyndall, 43, went 56-17 with a pair of NIT appearances in two seasons at Southern Mississippi. Before going to Southern Mississippi, Tyndall was 114-85 with two NCAA Tournament appearances in six seasons at Morehead State, which had gone 4-23 the year before his arrival. His 2011 Morehead State team upset Louisville in the NCAA Tournament.

Tyndall called Tennessee a place where “you can compete to go to the Final Four and you can compete to win a national championship.”

“Tennessee, to me, is a destination job,” he said.

The hire of Tyndall continues Tennessee’s recent trend of selecting coaches from mid-major programs. Martin came to Tennessee in 2011 after three seasons at Missouri State. Martin was preceded by Bruce Pearl, who arrived at Tennessee from Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Pearl and Martin helped Tennessee reach four regional semifinals in the past eight years.

Tennessee Athletic Director Dave Hart praised Tyndall’s energy and winning history. Hart said Tyndall’s traits reminded him of Tennessee’s football coach, Butch Jones. Tyndall and Jones grew up about an hour away from each other. Tyndall was born in Grand Rapids, Mich. Jones is from Saugatuck, Mich.

Tyndall also has experience coaching in the SEC and in the state of Tennessee as an assistant at LSU from 1997-2001. He also was an assistant at Middle Tennessee in 2002-2006.