Sports briefs

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Oregon State fires men's coach Robinson

Oregon State fired coach Craig Robinson yesterday after six seasons without making the NCAA Tournament. The brother-in-law of President Barack Obama, Robinson had a solid start in Corvallis, taking a program that had lost 21 straight Pac-12 games to an 18-win season in 2008-09.

The Beavers' results under Robinson were uneven after that, finishing no better than fifth in the Pac-12. The Beavers were 16-16 this season, including 8-10 in the Pac-12, and lost to Radford at home in the CBI. Robinson was 94-105 with Oregon State after spending two seasons as Brown's head coach.

-- APBig East, Big Ten to play annual series

The Big East and Big Ten will play an annual men's basketball series against each other in the first full week of the season, the conferences announced during a news conference at Madison Square Garden.

The Gavitt Tipoff Games will feature eight games over four consecutive days. The series, which will start in 2015-16 and span eight years, is named after Dave Gavitt, the late founder of the Big East.

The televised games will be at home sites. Each Big East team will participate a minimum of six times over the eight years and Big Ten teams will play a minimum of four games.

The matchups won't be known until next May. Some schools have an existing intrastate series, such as Marquette and Wisconsin, DePaul and Northwestern, and Creighton and Nebraska. The Gavitt Tipoff Games could lead to additional geographic rivalry games such as Georgetown vs. Maryland or Xavier vs. Ohio State.

NHL

New Hurricanes GM Francis fires coach Muller

One week into his new job as general manager, Hall of Famer Ron Francis fired coach Kirk Muller and most of his staff, and said the roster will be re-evaluated. Muller was 80-80-27 in three seasons with the Hurricanes, who haven't made the playoffs since 2009.

NFL

Eagles sign Army Ranger to rookie deal

The Philadelphia Eagles have signed former Army Ranger Alejandro Villanueva to a rookie free-agent contract. The 6-9, 277-pound defensive lineman spent the last four years as an active member of the U.S. Army. He served three tours in Afghanistan and last played football as a wide receiver at Army in 2009.

-- AP