Newsmakers

Hired The Seattle Seahawks hired Carl Smith to be their new quarterbacks coach, reuniting him with coach Pete Carroll. The two worked together at New England in the late 1990s and again at USC. Smith was offensive coordinator in Jacksonville from 2005-07 and was QB coach of the Cleveland Browns last season.

• Joe Torre has been hired as Major League Baseball’s executive vice president of baseball operations, a person with knowledge of the appointment said.

Extended The Chicago Bears gave coach Lovie Smith a two-year contract extension, keeping him through the 2013 season after a year in which his team won the NFC North and made it to the conference title game.

Reinstated Montana State University announced that the NCAA reinstated the eligibility of the Bobcats’ leading rusher, Orenzo Davis. The school announced in January that the junior from Littleton, Colo., had been declared ineligible a month earlier for violating NCAA eligibility rules, but did not say why. MSU says privacy laws prevent school officials from commenting further.

Waived The Houston Rockets waived seldom-used forward Jared Jeffries’ expiring contract. He appeared in only 18 games this year – none after Feb. 2 – and never found a place in coach Rick Adelman’s rotation.

Signed The Anaheim Ducks signed general manager Bob Murray to a four-year contract extension through 2016. He has been in the Ducks’ front office since 2005.

Dropped A prosecutor overseeing an involuntary manslaughter case against Baltimore Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon said the investigation will continue even though the victim’s family has dropped a civil lawsuit against the player. Victor Mueses told the Associated Press that he has evidence against Simon but is still waiting for a ballistics test and analysis of a video taken during the shooting before presenting his case.

Resigned Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt is resigning to take the same job at Texas Tech. Miami president Donna Shalala announced the move, saying she was “deeply disappointed.”

Dead Frank Bare, first executive director of what is now USA Gymnastics, died of pneumonia Friday at the age of 80.