Tuesday, 5/6/97 Harrick signed by Rhode Island University’s
athletic director defends coach against criticism
By Emmanuelle Ejercito Daily Bruin Staff Jim Harrick is moving
from the Pacific 10 to the Atlantic 10. It was announced Monday
that the former men’s basketball head coach at UCLA has accepted
the head coaching position at the University of Rhode Island.
Harrick coached for eight seasons at UCLA. In each of his eight
seasons, he won 20 or more games and made an NCAA tournament
appearance. In 1995, Harrick led the Bruin squad to UCLA’s 11th
national title. Despite this success, Harrick was dismissed Nov. 6,
1996 by UCLA, 1 1/2 years after the championship run, by athletic
director Peter Dalis due to violations of NCAA rules. Harrick was
fired after falsifying information in an expense account for a
recruiting dinner that five Bruin players attended, when only three
players are allowed according to NCAA rules. Harrick was fired for
falsifying the report and continually lying about it afterwards.
The Rhode Island head coaching position opened up when Al Skinner
left to accept a coaching job at Boston College. Though many
applications were received for the job, Rhode Island athletic
director Ron Petro picked Harrick out of the pile. Harrick traveled
to Rhode Island last week and met with university president Robert
Carothers, Petro, the team and even Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln
Almond. Harrick was the only candidate to interview for the job.
"Rhode Island has all the pieces in place to be consistently
successful on the national level," Harrick said in a statement.
"(Its record over) the last two years proves that the talent is
here." Under Skinner, Rhode Island compiled two consecutive 20-win
seasons. In the 1996-97 season, Rhode Island had a 20-9 record and
made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament, falling to Purdue in the
first round. Not everyone was pleased with the news. Harrick’s
hiring raised some objections from people at the school, who did
not believe that a coach who was fired for recruiting violations
should be hired as head coach. However, Petro defended his choice.
"Jim Harrick is one of the great coaches in America and has, over
the course of his long career, been a man of strong conviction and
high standards," Carothers said in a statement. "Coach Harrick has
a very clear understanding about the values for which the
University of Rhode Island stands and about our expectations of our
players and our coaches." Compiled from Daily Bruin wire
services.