Newsmakers

Hired The Los Angeles Lakers hired Chuck Person and Quin Snyder as assistants to new coach Mike Brown. They join John Kuester, the former Detroit Pistons head coach, on Brown’s staff. Person spent the last two seasons working with the Lakers under retired coach Phil Jackson. Previously, he spent two seasons each as an assistant with Sacramento and Indiana.

Awarded A jury found that the University of Central Florida’s Athletic Association was negligent in the 2008 death of football player Ereck Plancher and awarded his parents $10 million. Plancher collapsed and died following conditioning drills at the school’s football complex. The university says it would appeal.

Planned Texas wide receiver Marquise Goodwin will skip the 2011 season to concentrate on track after qualifying for the World Championships in the long jump. Goodwin also plans to train for the 2012 Olympics in London. He will redshirt during the 2011 football season with plans to return in 2012 as a junior in eligibility.

Signed Florida State’s most reliable receiver is leaving school to pursue a professional baseball career. Taiwan Easterling, a three-year starter for the Seminoles who had at least one catch in each of his last 24 games, signed a professional contract with the Chicago Cubs and is foregoing his final year of football eligibility.

Denied Undefeated prizefighter Floyd Mayweather Jr. may have to give testimony to lawyers for rival Manny Pacquiao sooner than he wants after a federal judge in Las Vegas denied his request to push back a deposition in a defamation case. In the lawsuit, Pacquiao claims Mayweather and his camp defamed him by saying he used performance- enhancing drugs.

Rewarded New Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Lon Kruger will have 20 hours of private plane usage and bonuses of up to $175,000 under terms of his new contract. Kruger’s seven-year, $16.6 million deal was released after an open records request by The Associated Press. It includes a bonus structure that will pay him $25,000 for reaching the NCAA tournament and up to $175,000 for leading the Sooners to the national championship.