Sports briefly: Florida hires coach

Florida hired Louisiana Tech's Michael White as its men's basketball coach.

The school announced the move Thursday, a week after Billy Donovan left the Gators to take the head coaching job with the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder.

White, who led the Bulldogs to a 27-9 record and the NIT quarterfinals last season, agreed to a six-year deal worth $2 million annually.

Donovan formally said goodbye to Florida on Monday, and athletic director Jeremy Foley said he would "call a lot of people and try to figure out the right person." He landed White three days later.

"Michael White is someone who came to the top of our list very quickly and he checks all of the boxes we were looking for," Foley said in a statement. "He is a winner who has a high level of integrity, plays an up-tempo style of play and has the respect of his peers and the basketball community."

White, the son of Duke athletic director Kevin White, grew up in Florida, played and coached in the SEC with Mississippi, and has experience recruiting in the south. His roster last season included five players from Florida.

Tennessee tried to hire White to replace Cuonzo Martin last season, but White chose to stay at Louisiana Tech and signed a six-year contract extension.

Golson led the Irish to a 12-0 regular season in 2012 and a berth in the title game, where Notre Dame lost 42-14 to Alabama. He was then suspended from school in the fall of 2013 for academic impropriety.

The Irish started last season 6-0 and were ranked No. 5 as Golson's record as a starter improved to 16-1, the best winning percentage in school history. But Golson committed 22 turnovers during the season and the Irish lost five of their final six regular-season games.

Belarus beat the United States for the first time 5-2 at the ice hockey world championship in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Following five losses to the Americans, Belarus' milestone victory was its third in the group stage, and a major step to advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Belarus tops Group B after four games with 10 points, one ahead of the U.S. and Russia.

WNBA: The WNBA has been thrown into the national conversation about domestic violence and sports, and now is facing a decision involving sexual harassment. The league is reviewing the hiring of former Detroit Pistons star Isiah Thomas — once the subject of a sexual harassment lawsuit — as president of the New York Liberty, an announcement that caught the league president off guard. The WNBA was already immersed in a domestic dispute involving All-Stars Brittney Griner and Glory Johnson, who were arrested after assaulting each other at their home.