Texas fires defensive coordinator Manny Diaz

A few short years ago defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was a hot name. His Mississippi State defense had manhandled Michigan and the electrifying Denard Robinson in the Gator Bowl.

Diaz parlayed his one year success with the Bulldogs into the Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator job and big things were expected with Diaz and all the blue chip talent in Austin.

Today Diaz has been relieved of his duties as defensive coordinator and has been replaced by former coordinator Greg Robinson who was an analyst at the Longhorn Network. This was after BYU shredded the Longhorn defense for 550 yards on the ground in a 40-21 loss to the Cougars. The Longhorns gave up 679 yards altogether.

 “Our performance on defense last night was unacceptable, and we need to change that,”Mack Brown said. “Greg will be here tonight and get with the staff and players to start preparing for Ole Miss. He will be running our defense immediately. We’re very fortunate that Greg has been around, watched all of our practice video and has a good scouting report moving forward. His familiarity with the staff and players should make for a smooth transition. He knows this place, did a terrific job in leading our defense before, and I’m excited to have him back on the field. We’re back at it and working hard to beat Ole Miss this weekend.”

Robinson last run with the Longhorns ended in 2004 when he took the Syracuse job. Robinson also served as Michigan's defensive coordinator for two seasons in which he was unfairly blamed for their performance despite having to coach a 4-2-5 scheme shoved down his throat.

“This is a tough deal for everyone involved, but I love The University of Texas, and Coach Brown has been wonderful to me,” Robinson said. “I’ll do anything I can to help him, so when he called, I told him I’d be there today. I know the staff, have a lot of respect for them and am excited for the challenge moving forward. I’ve been around the team a lot, watched all of their film and have been self scouting and scouting opponents since I came on board in July. Because of Longhorn Network, I’ve also been able to see these guys for two to three years and am very familiar with the personnel.”

Hopefully for Brown, Robinson can get this defense playing up to it's potential. If not it may be Brown whi gets the pink slip.

UCLA receiver Nick Pasquale dies after being hit by a vehicle

Unfortunately, there’s extremely tragic and sad news coming out of Los Angeles Sunday afternoon.

UCLA wide receiver Nick Pasquale died early Sunday morning after being struck by a vehicle.

Pasquale was on foot when a vehicle hit him at 1:27 a.m. on Camino De Los Mares, west of Calle Nuevo in San Clemente, according to the release. He was pronounced dead at the scene, said Lt. Jeff Hallock, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

The vehicle was identified as a Mercedes sedan and was heading westbound on Camino De Los Mares at the time of the accident, Hallock said. The driver stopped at the scene and called police to report the incident, Hallock added.

There is an ongoing investigation of the incident but the driver of the vehicle has not been cited or arrested.

St. Louis Blues will name Brett Hull as team vice president

Brett Hull started his NHL career with the St. Louis Blues and now he's coming back home.

Hull will be welcomed back to the franchise when the Blues will officially name him as the team vice president.

The club will introduce Hull at a press conference set for 6:16 p.m. at Scottrade Center. It will be open to the public, which is asked to enter through the atrium area of the building.

As the Post-Dispatch reported Thursday night, Hull is rejoining the Blues as a vice president who will focus his attention on the business side of the organization. He will report to Bruce Affleck, who last week had his job title changed to president of business operations.

‘‘If that’s the case (Hull rejoining the Blues), I think it’s awesome,” winger T.J. Oshie said Friday. “Obviously (Hull is) probably one of the most well-known players in town here, an unbelievable guy ... a great team guy who knows the players’ side of the game probably a lot better than most people. It will be great to have him up (in the front office).”

Hull played his first 11 NHL seasons with the Blues and had 527 of his 741 career goals there. Hull also won two Stanley Cups as a member of the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings.