OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors fired Mark Jackson, ending the franchise's most successful coaching tenure in the past two decades but also one filled with drama and distractions.

General manager Bob Myers thanked Jackson in a statement for “his role in helping elevate this team into a better position than it was when he arrived nearly 36 months ago.” Myers said it was a difficult decision but the Warriors “simply feel it's best to move in a different direction at this time.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Nashville Predators hired Peter Laviolette as the second head coach in franchise history.The Predators also announced Kevin McCarthy was hired as an assistant on Laviolette's staff.Laviolette, who signed a multi-year contract, will take over in Nashville once he finishes coaching the United States at the 2014 World Championship. He coached Carolina to a Stanley Cup in 2006 and took Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup finals in 2010.

HEFLIN, Ala. — A county sheriff’s office says Buffalo Bills Pro Bowl defensive lineman Marcell Dareus was arrested in Alabama on drug charges.A jailer in Cleburne County in Heflin who would not give her name says Dareus was arrested Monday night by a state trooper and was released from the jail within an hour.She says he was arrested on a charge of possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.