Hawks fire Pierce after 2-plus years
The Hawks fired coach Lloyd Pierce on Monday less than halfway into a season that began with heightened expectations but was beset by injuries.
The Hawks are 14-20 and 11th in the Eastern Conference, following a 109-99 road loss to the Heat on Sunday night.
It was the Hawks’ 11th loss after holding a fourth-quarter lead.
Pierce, 44, hired in 2018, was 63-120 with the Hawks. It was his first head coaching job after assistant stints with the 76ers, Grizzlies, Warriors and Cavaliers.
The Hawks named Nate McMillan interim coach.
McMillan, the 56-year-old former Pacers coach, was added to Pierce’s staff in the offseason.
College basketball: Florida State and coach Leonard Hamilton agreed to a five-year extension through the 2024-2025 season that will pay him $2.25 million annually plus bonuses. Hamilton, 72, is the winningest coach in school history and has the 11th-ranked Seminoles on the verge of winning back-to-back ACC regular-season titles. In his 19th season at FSU, Hamilton has won ACC coach of the year three times, two ACC titles and taken the Seminoles to seven NCAA tourneys . ... Albany and coach Will Brown agreed to part ways. Brown, 49, was in the final year of his contract. He went 315-295 and earned five NCAA tourney berths in 20 years, but the Great Danes just completed their third straight losing season. ... The NIT will feature 16 teams rather than its usual 32 and all of its games will be held at two locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area later this month.
Defending national champ Alabama plans to host full-capacity games at Bryant-Denny Stadium next season, AD Greg Byrne announced.
College football:
NFL: The Chiefs are hopeful QB Patrick Mahomes will be ready for minicamp in June, but are confident he will be 100% for training camp later in the summer. Mahomes underwent surgery for turf toe after the Super Bowl.
Soccer: Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu, his adviser Jaume Masferrer, the club’s CEO Oscar Grau and head of legal services Roman Gomez Ponti were arrested following a raid at the club’s offices at Camp Nou. The operation was related to last year’s “Barcagate,” in which club officials were accused of launching a smear campaign against current and former players who were critical of the club and then-president Bartomeu.
Tennis: Former world No. 1 and 20-time Grand Slam champ Roger Federer withdrew from this month’s Miami Open so he can spend extra time preparing to “work his way back out on tour,” his agent said. Federer, 39, who has won the event four times, hasn’t competed in more than a year after having two operations on his right knee last season. He’s still scheduled to make his return to the ATP tour next week in a hard-court tournament in Doha, Qatar.
Women’s basketball: Texas A&M (22-1) moved up to No. 2, its highest ranking ever in The AP poll, a day after clinching its first SEC regular-season title with a 65-57 victory over then-No. 5 South Carolina. UConn remained No. 1.