Newsmakers

Hired University of Montana assistant Bill Evans has been named the head coach of the Idaho State men’s basketball team. He has been a coach for 33 years, including winning 209 games in 15 seasons at Southern Utah. He has been an assistant at Montana for four seasons, where he has been in charge of the Griz defense, which has led the Big Sky Conference in scoring defense all four years. ISU coach Joe O’Brien resigned in December after a 2-8 start and Deane Martin served as interim coach for the rest of the 2011-12 season.

Fired Western Kentucky fired Mary Taylor Cowles as women’s basketball coach after a disappointing 9-21 season. Cowles had coached the Lady Toppers for 10 years and started with six straight seasons of at least 20 wins before managing just one over the last four years.

Elected Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. The lanky Brazilian nicknamed “Guga” reached No. 1 in the ATP rankings and collected singles titles at Roland Garros in 1997, 2000 and 2001.

Agree The Buffalo Bills retained a key member of their receiving attack before the start of free agency after tight end Scott Chandler agreed to a two-year contract. The deal comes before Chandler was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next week, and was reached after the Bills re-signed leading receiver Stevie Johnson to a five-year contract on Monday.

Planned Chicago Blackhawks forward Ben Smith will undergo season-ending surgery next week to repair a right hip tear and hernia. The hockey player’s recovery is expected to take four months.

Halts University of New Orleans President Peter Fos says the school will halt its transition to NCAA Division II status and instead remain in Division I. While UNO was part of the LSU system, budget crunches led to decisions by former school officials to pursue a lower level of athletic competition as a means to save money, and in 2010 UNO withdrew from the Division I Sun Belt Conference.

Absent An official who ejected two former North Carolina State men’s basketball stars from the stands last month did not take part in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament but had the support of his colleagues. The ACC issued a statement saying Karl Hess decided not to officiate in Atlanta because he “did not want to take away from the ACC tournament.” His absence was noted in the opening game of the tournament, when all three officials wrote the letters “KH” on a piece of tape that was attached to the side of their shoes.