Wednesday, November 13, 1996
Kirra Steel
First-year English student
About his firing, I think it was warranted, because he did
disobey the rules. Any violation has to be taken care of and it
becomes significant when the bigger schools disregard NCAA rules.
Small violations lead to bigger ones. I just hope that they give
Coach Lavin a chance, because he seems like a good guy and a good
coach.
John McKinney Third-year law student
Well, needless to say, I was shocked when I heard that Coach
Harrick was in trouble and would either resign or be fired. Having
learned what I learned subsequent to that about abuse of discretion
or abuse of his expense account, I don’t think this was a small
indiscretion; he violated rules, and lines have to be drawn
somewhere. And it is problematic when you get into saying,"Well,
this was a violation, but it was a small violation." A violation is
a violation and I have to respect Chancellor Young for firing him.
I wish official action like that were taken throughout sports so
you wouldn’t have people saying "Well, this coach over here did
this and this coach over here did that and got away with it." So,
if they all acted like the Chancellor here at UCLA, then I think
we’d have a better NCAA.
Jeehon Min
First-year graduate student in
electrical engineering
From what I’ve read, it sounds like the only thing he did wrong
was take two extra players out to dinner. He was supposed to take
only three, and instead he took five student athletes out. It seems
like a minor violation. I don’t think he should be fired for that,
but maybe there was something in the way he was trying to deceive
the university that showed a flaw in his character. But I think the
penalty was too heavy. He was a good coach and the players liked
him. I’m looking forward to hearing more about what happened and
why.
Minh Nguyen
First-year medical student
I believe that the firing of Coach Harrick had less to do with
the statements about the dinner and probably had more to do with
the alumni’s negative feelings toward him over the past few years.
This recent violation was just an excuse to fire him.
Mariam Pajouhi
Fourth-year neuroscience student
When I first heard about the firing of Jim Harrick, it was
through e-mail and it was rather sudden. It seemed that only the
top people were in on it and students didn’t have a say in what was
going on. Also, from my viewpoint, it didn’t seem like they did a
really formal investigation. Maybe they did, but it didn’t seem
like it to me, so I was pretty shocked when I read that he had been
fired.
Richard Weisdorf
UCLA graduate, Class of ’58
It was a big surprise to a lot of us who follow basketball here.
I believe it was justified, because I don’t believe the
administration would have taken such a drastic step had there not
been more iceberg. I think that this is only the tip, although we
may never know. It’s an unfortunate thing, but I think that it
sends a message to the students and to the country about morality
and rightness.
Tad Murphy
Second-year business economics student
The only thing I’m really worried about is that when I was going
through high school, I had a coach change on my varsity team, and
it really screwed us up as a team. I hope it doesn’t mess with the
players’ minds and it doesn’t get them off focus.