BRIEFLY : REPORT: DONAHUE HALTS COWBOYS TALKS.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

The Washington Post reported in today's editions that Terry Donahue abruptly broke off talks with owner Jerry Jones about coaching the Dallas Cowboys and told friends he was uncomfortable with some aspects of negotiations.

Donahue caught a commercial flight Tuesday home to California following another interview with owner Jones.

Donahue refused to talk with reporters when he returned to California.

Author Tom Clancy's NFL-record offer of slightly more than $200 million for the Minnesota Vikings all but ended one of the league's most unusual ownership structures and allowed Clancy to fulfill a long-held ambition of buying an NFL team.

The group Clancy heads now needs approval from 23 of 30 NFL owners.

BASEBALL: Acting more like a contender than an expansion team, the Arizona Diamondbacks plucked one of the top pitchers from the free-agent market, signing Andy Benes to an $18 million, three-year contract.

ESPN will contact former New York Yankees general manager Bob Watson about becoming a baseball analyst, a spokeswoman for the cable network said.

Second baseman Jeff Frye and the Boston Red Sox, scheduled for the year's first salary arbitration hearing, instead agreed to a $7 million, three-year contract.

TRACK: Maurice Greene, the world champion at 100 meters, set the world indoor 60-meter record, clocking 6.39 seconds in Madrid, Spain.

The record came two days after Greene equaled the previous record of 6.41 seconds set by Andre Cason in 1992, also in Madrid.

BASKETBALL: Eugene Orza, the associate general counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association, was one of three witnesses to testify in Latrell Sprewell's arbitration hearing.

Orza, who was not available for comment because of a gag order, was expected to give testimony backing up Sprewell's claim that his one-year punishment was unprecedented and excessive - even in cases of player-coach conflicts in the NBA and in other sports.

San Jose State coach Stan Morrison, formerly of USC, announced that he will retire at the end of the season.

BOXING: Mike Tyson, frustrated by his banishment from boxing, has tried to break his contract with promoter Don King and his co-managers, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.

``Mike went down and met with some guys in Los Angeles and they enticed him by saying they could help him more than his existing deal,'' a source close to the parties told The Associated Press.