Sports in Brief: Manchester United fires manager David Moyes

Overwhelmed by the giant task of replacing Alex Ferguson, Britain's greatest ever manager, David Moyes was fired by Manchester United on Tuesday after exhausting the patience and losing the support of the club's American owners, the Glazer family.

The 50-year-old Scot was less than a season into a six-year contract, but the Glazers had seen enough. So, too, had most of United's fans and most likely its slew of big sponsors, with the team languishing in seventh place in the Premier League and guaranteed to miss out on Champions League qualification for the first time in 19 years.

Ryan Giggs, a player-coach on Moyes' staff at the age of 40, will take temporary control until a permanent replacement is found.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL Ahmad Fields, a 6-foot-5 guard from Washington, is transferring from Utah to Drexel, according to a source. He will sit out next season and have three seasons of eligibility remaining.

La Salle assistant coach Harris Adler has been named an assistant coach at Auburn under Bruce Pearl. Adler spent the last 10 seasons with the Explorers under John Giannini, managing recruiting, scouting, scheduling, and academic progress.

Tennessee hired Southern Mississippi's Donnie Tyndall as its men's basketball coach. Tyndall replaces Cuonzo Martin, who went 63-41 in three seasons at Tennessee before California hired him on April 15. Martin led Tennessee to a 23-14 record and an NCAA regional semifinal appearance last season.

GOLF Tiger Woods is hosting another tournament, this one for recreational golfers on courses that include Merion and Congressional for his charitable foundation. The latest venture is called the Tiger Woods Charity Playoffs. It's an amateur golf series that stretches over five months on eight golf courses, and it rewards the best players and fund-raisers with a final event in Orlando at the end of the year.

The first event will be May 27 at Cascata in Las Vegas. Other courses are Congressional; Merion (June 9); Trump National in New Jersey; Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.; Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, Calif.; Innisbrook in Florida; and Myopia Hunt north of Boston.

Thirty-one donors already have signed up for Merion, where the U.S. Open was played last year for the fifth time.

- Staff and wire reports