ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) β Michigan will be searching for a new football coach after firing Brady Hoke three days after completing a 5-7 season. Hoke was 31-20 with the Wolverines, including an encouraging 11-2 mark in his first year at the helm. But Michigan was just 20-18 over the last three years, losing to rival Ohio State each season.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) β Kevin Durant scored 27 points in his season debut last night, but the Oklahoma City Thunder lost 112-104 in New Orleans. Durant shot 9-for-18 from the field and 3-for-8 from beyond the arc while playing more than 29 minutes. He missed his team’s first 17 games with a fractured right foot, which was surgically repaired in mid-October.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) β Torii Hunter is coming back to the Minnesota Twins, seven years after leaving via free agency. A person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press that the 40-year-old Hunter has accepted a one-year, $10.5 million contract. The five-time All-Star outfielder hit .286 with 17 homers and 83 RBIs for the Tigers last season.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) β Alabama-Birmingham is shutting down its football program after one of the Blazers’ stronger seasons because it was losing too much money off the sport. UAB said it subsidizes $20 million of the athletic department’s operating budget of some $30 million annually, and said both those numbers rank fifth in Conference USA. UAB is the first major college program since Pacific in 1995 to shut down.
ST. LOUIS (AP) β The St. Louis Blues have signed the 42-year-old Martin Brodeur (mar-TAN’ broh-DYOOR’) to a one-year contract, giving the NHL’s all-time leader in wins, games and shutouts a chance to extend his career. Brodeur won three Stanley Cups in a 21-year career with New Jersey before becoming a free agent after last season. He joined St. Louis on a tryout basis late last week and participated in his first full practice on Monday.
