Serie A club Udinese "officially sacked" coach STEFANO COLANTUONO, with GIGI DE CANIO "expected to replace him." The Zebrette "are only four points from relegation and faced bitter protests from their fans" after Sunday's 2-1 defeat to AS Roma. That led to "speculation that the tactician would be relieved of his duties," and the club confirmed the change in management with an official statement on its website (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 3/14). ... Spanish second division side Real Oviedo coach SERGIO EGEA presented his resignation "for personal reasons, the club announced." The club is currently in third place in Spain's second tier (MARCA, 3/14). ... Former Slovakia Manager VLADIMIR WEISS "has taken over as head coach" of Georgia's national football team. The Georgian Football Federation announced that Weiss "signed a contract until the end of the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign" (REUTERS, 3/14). ... French Ligue 1 side Girondins de Bordeaux on Monday “decided to end the contract” of Manager WILLY SAGNOL, whose contract was to expire in ’17. The team named former club goaltender ULRICH RAMÉ caretaker manager (L’ÉQUIPE, 3/14).
USTA HIRES ALLASTER: The U.S. Tennis Association has hired STACEY ALLASTER, the former WTA Tour chair and CEO, to run its professional tennis division, which includes the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Allaster was long considered one of the top female execs in sports when in October she stepped down from the WTA after a six-year reign. She said at the time her desire to spend more time with her family was incompatible with the intense travel demands of the WTA CEO role. Allaster’s title with the USTA -- CEO, professional tennis -- is not new for the organization, but it has been vacant since ARLEN KANTARIAN departed in '08 following an internal power struggle with GORDON SMITH, the USTA exec director to whom Allaster will report (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).
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