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Newsmakers

From Staff And Wire Reports

Declined A person close to the situation said Georgia Tech men’s basketball coach Paul Hewitt has turned down an offer from St. John’s because of “family matters.” The Red Storm have not been to the NCAA tournament since 2002, and fired Norm Roberts last week after six seasons.

Sidelined Philadelphia leading scorer Jeff Carter is having surgery on his broken left foot and hopes to be back for the playoffs. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said the center should miss 3-4 weeks.

Hired Fordham has hired Tom Pecora, who led Hofstra the past nine seasons, to be its new men’s basketball coach. Fordham finished 2-26 last season, was winless in 16 conference games and fired Dereck Whittenburg five games into the season.

Fired The University of San Francisco has fired women’s basketball coach Tanya Haave after four seasons. Haave went 36-86 overall and 12-44 in WCC play during her tenure, including 5-27 overall and 1-13 in WCC play this season.

Introduced New Auburn basketball coach Tony Barbee was introduced in a news conference at the new $92 million Auburn Arena, which opens next season. The Tigers gave the former UTEP coach a six-year contract worth $1.5 million annually.

Retired Olympian Emily Brydon is retiring from Canada’s Alpine skiing team after a 13-year career that includes one World Cup victory and nine podium finishes. The 29-year-old won a World Cup super-G race in 2008, and her podium total ties her for third among Canadian women.

Died Pioneering sports broadcaster Chester R. Simmons, who served as president of ESPN during the company’s launch, died in Atlanta. He was 81. Simmons helped in developing “Wide World of Sports” before becoming president of NBC Sports and later ESPN. He was also founding commissioner of the USFL.

•Former NFL linebacker Elijah Alexander died after a nearly five-year battle with cancer. He was 39. Medical City Hospital spokeswoman Bianca Jackson said Alexander died Wednesday night at the Dallas facility. She declined to comment on cause of death. Alexander was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, in 2005.