Wednesday, November 13, 1996
FAULT:
Athletic Director puts Bruins in bad shape by firing Coach
HarrickBy Brian E. Harpuder
The person who should have been fired is Athletic Director Pete
Dalis and not Coach Jim Harrick. In his tenure as Athletic
Director, Dalis has shown positively no leadership or common sense.
Dalis, knowing full well that Terry Donahue was going to leave his
post as head coach within a few years, allowed Donahue to throw
away someone who is now one of the best coaches in the country,
Rick Neuheisel. Not only is he an excellent coach, he is also a
Bruin who Dalis did not have the guts to stand up for. Dalis let
Donahue run his department for him.
As for Jim Harrick, he was never ever given the credit that he
so justly deserved. It is unheard of to see a coach booed on his
own court. That happened to Harrick. Harrick was the only coach who
had the guts and wherewithal to remain as head coach in the shadow
of John Wooden, after numerous coaches had failed.
Harrick is the person who returned UCLA basketball to its former
glory days. Sure, there have been rough bumps along the way, and it
took him a few years to become the quality head coach he is now,
but he had the determination to stay with it.
Pete Dalis and our soon-to-be departed Chancellor, Charles
Young, have single handedly destroyed the fine tradition that was
UCLA basketball. I was a season ticket holder for three of my four
years at UCLA, and I watched the team and Jim Harrick grow and
mature.
Dalis has destroyed that growth. He has demoralized the current
team and has put our future in grave danger. Two weeks before the
season, he fires the head coach. One week before the early
recruiting deadline, he fires the head coach.
Where is the common sense? Was Harrick so bad that UCLA
basketball had to be taken down with him? Was Dalis’ ego so hurt
that he could not see what he was doing to the program? Sure,
Harrick deserved to be disciplined, however, firing the man who
restored glory to Pauley Pavilion makes no sense. This was to be
the best year for recruiting that UCLA had seen in some time. Some
even suggested we might have the best recruiting class in the
country. Harrick was to deserve much of the credit for getting that
class. Undoubtedly, now we will have no recruits.
Steve Lavin will be a fine coach, and he deserves all of our
support, as do the players who will no doubt be anguished for much
of the season because of the trauma that Dalis is putting them
through. Dalis should be fired immediately and be replaced with
someone who cares more about UCLA than his own ego.
I know that I bleed blue and gold and will always be a Bruin.
Dalis has shown that he might as well be a Trojan.
Brian E. Harpuder graduated from UCLA in spring with a B.A. in
political science. He is a now a political science graduate student
at Ohio State University.