Sports

6:36 PM ET LSU is expected to hire Minnesota Vikings defensive backs coach Daronte Jones as defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN. Jones, who completed his first season with the Vikings after two seasons with both the Cincinnati Bengals and Miami Dolphins, replaces Bo Pelini, who was fired after just one year at LSU. As ESPN

7:00 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Victoria Azarenka cried when she heard the news. Having traveled halfway around the world to Melbourne for only the second time since 2016, the two-time Australian Open champion was excited to make her return to the tournament and build on the momentum from her 2020 season, in which she reached

7:00 AM ET Dylan Larkin has a hard time sugar-coating it — last season sucked for him and the Detroit Red Wings. It’s tough to finish with a minus-122 goal differential and 23 fewer points than any other team. Larkin called it “embarrassing” to be on the first Red Wings team to finish dead last

3:00 PM ET The year 2018 wasn’t that long ago. It really wasn’t, despite how it seems. The Red Sox beat the Dodgers in the World Series that year and while it feels like an epoch has passed since that happened, the highlight reels of that matchup are in full color, not black and white.

10:00 AM ET Cristiano Ronaldo has grown accustomed to breaking one goal-scoring record after another, but the latest milestone might just be the most important of his career. By scoring against Napoli in a 2-0 win in the Italian Supercup on Wednesday, Ronaldo scored the 760th goal of his professional career and, therefore, apparently passed

7:50 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — The California Horse Racing Board voted to let stand a decision by stewards at Santa Anita and leave Justify as the winner of the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. The seven CHRB commissioners met in a closed executive session Thursday. Stewards at Santa Anita last month decided to

4:30 PM GMT England have called up Wasps’ Paolo Odogwu and Bristol Bears’ Harry Randall ahead of the Six Nations but there is no place in the squad for Jonathan Joseph. Odogwu and Randall join Bath’s Beno Obano as the three uncapped players in Jones’ 28-man squad for the Six Nations, which starts for England

6:50 AM ET THE ONLY TIME Dustin Poirier wanted to fight an opponent outside of the cage was the week of UFC 178. Poirier remembers standing behind a curtain at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas in September 2014, waiting to get on the scale. He recalls seeing a few scuffles in the

4:59 PM ET Unified super middleweight world titlist Canelo Alvarez will put his belts on the line against Avni Yildirim on Feb. 27, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. While it is refreshing to see Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) back in the ring so soon after his recent demolition of Callum Smith in December,

10:53 AM ET D’Arcy MaineESPN.com Novak Djokovic attempted to clarify his heavily scrutinized letter to Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley in a social media post Tuesday, insisting his “good intentions” were misconstrued. Following positive COVID-19 tests on three charter flights to Melbourne, 72 players are currently in a hard quarantine period resulting in 14

8:29 AM ET Nothing outside of the major championships was ever guaranteed for Tiger Woods’ when it comes to his schedule. And now even that is certain in the wake of the news that the Woods recently had a microdiscectomy procedure to alleviate nerve pain in his lower back. 2 Related Apparently Woods is already

2:08 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving rejoined the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday, saying he took a leave of absence in part because he “just needed a pause.” Irving practiced with the team and could play Wednesday in Cleveland. He has missed the past seven games, five while away from the team

9:10 AM ET NFL NationESPN The 2020 NFL playoffs are down to the top four teams heading into championship weekend. However, that also means that 28 other teams have begun their offseasons. Ahead of them looms free agency and the 2021 NFL draftto help shore up weaknesses and holes in their rosters. There are several

11:43 AM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ty Dillon landed a Daytona 500 ride with Gaunt Brothers Racing, a pairing of a driver and team both trying to rebuild in 2021. Dillon spent four seasons driving for Germain Racing but lost his ride when lack of sponsorship led the team to close. Gaunt Brothers

12:28 PM ET Chris Low Close ESPN Senior Writer College football reporter Joined ESPN.com in 2007 Graduate of the University of Tennessee Mark Schlabach Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Tennessee has fired head football coach Jeremy Pruitt after a

7:00 AM ET Milan Hejduk was the last remaining member of the 2001 Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche to stay on the roster. But entering the 2012-13 season, Hejduk knew he would have a diminished role. He called teammate Gabriel Landeskog and told him to meet him and then-coach Joe Sacco for a meeting at the