What do you think should happen to Jim Harrick and his son Jim Harrick Jr. at UGA? A former player Tony Cole is accusing both of NCAA violations. He has the receipt of a wire transfer with Harrick Jr.'s name. Harrick Jr. may not be in MENSA, but come on... The UGA president made a comment about Harrick recruiting thugs to the program. Cole has a long rap sheet and is coming out as revenge for Harrick booting him off the team after his latest incident. I think Harrick needs to step down before it gets ugly. He cheated. He knows it. Another black eye for the SEC. The latest news: http://espn.go.com/ncb/news/2003/0302/1516986.html
This is happening on a regular basis, and likely in more than a third of all major programs. The coaches surely know what is going on. The problem comes b/c each school has their own set of rules they enforce. With the influence from money these programs get these coaches can get away with just about anything on their own campus. It really sucks all the way around b/c a majority of the student/athletes are really athlete/students, and many of those never had any intention of taking advantage of the free education. That really is what pisses me off. You can run a winning program and still graduate students. What was the graduation rate of UH's basketball players between 1961-1997? Dean Smith, in that same time frame graduated 96% of his players going to a Final Four roughly every third year.
Harrick Jr. got canned yesterday. Funny thing is Harrick Sr. said his son would be reinstated after the investigation. Harrick Sr. could be gone as soon as the start of the SEC tournament. Here's how his interview with Vitale went: Vitale: Jim, I've known you a long time. Can you look me in the eye and tell me you will be cleared of all charges? Harrick Sr: Without a doubt
He backpedaled yesterday to say there may be some "minor infractions" that come out. Should these allegations turn out to be true, that guy should be banned from ever coaching in the NCAA on any level
Today UGA pulled out of the SEC and NCAA tournament. The team was a lock for a tourney bid. UGA also suspended Harrick. Vitale was on ESPN acting like he didn't get played. Harrick owes Vitale and Schaap apologies. It was not Schaap's intent to take down Harrick, Harrick did it himself. Interesting point by Vitale was for the school to pull out of the tourney, the infractions must have involved several current players and were not minor. I laugh at Harrick.
Hey, did y'all hear about that UGA "coaching class" where people got A's without even showing up? Well, Rudy signed up for that class but he got a C-. Thank you, thank you. You're a great crowd. No really.
Finally!!! Thr truth comes out!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that program, if more is found, gets the death penalty. It is truly sickening to live in a world where a person like Harrick can blatently lie in front of a camera and almost get away with it. He should be in federal prison. Oh it's coming out Jimmy, it's alllll coming out now, baby!!! You just hope Mobley has nothing to do with this since he was coached by Harrick at the same time Odom received cash at RI.
Jim Harrick is kind of creepy. He has this wierd syrup thing like he's going to hug you, just so he can get closer to stick the knife. Yuck. For my NCCA bad boy, I much prefer Tark the Shark.
This happens everywhere, just not as blatantly at soem schools. Every school has it's versions of "Rocks for Jocks" classes so easy everyone does well. In addition class size is limited and jocks (especially football and b-ball) players get 1st choice. So the class is 85% jocks and the rest are seniors lucky enough to register early. Only difference is most schools are smart enough to require attendance, so if they get audited at least the student went to every class so there is some justification for the grade. I don't know how many coaches pay bills for students but there are boosters that will do anything to be around players. I would pretty well guarantee that if you looked at any (non-ivy league) D1 school that you could find problems. GA (and Harrick) just seems to be an extreme example. Also regardless of what you here there is such things as $20 handshakes from boosters after games, as well as dinners and bar tabs which are picked up. Every school has problems at some level, GA seemed to take it to an extreme and got caught.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: University of Georgia President Michael Adams and athletics director Vince Dooley on Monday sought to quell a growing NCAA investigation of the school's men's basketball program by suspending head coach Jim Harrick with pay, declaring two starting players ineligible because of academic fraud and banning the Bulldogs from playing in the Southeastern Conference and NCAA tournaments. Georgia players, brokenhearted and angry, assembled Monday night outside Adams' office on North Campus, demanding an explanation from the university president. They were not able to see Adams there, so they went to his home on Prince Avenue. Adams called campus police when the players arrived, and the police persuaded Adams to meet with the players on the front lawn of his home. His response apparently only aggravated the situation, prompting star forward Jarvis Hayes, a junior, to declare that he will leave school early and enter the NBA draft. "[Adams] spoke to us," Hayes said. "He told us, 'We rejoice as a team. We suffer as a team.' He's not suffering. I think he did it to save his own job."
Harrick Formula UCLA, questions Rhode Island, more questions Georgia, bags and bags of questions Sorry, three strikes and you are out. This cat is DONE.
Another difference is the classes are taught by professors outside the athletic department. The registrar at UGA dropped the ball when he assigned Harrick Jr. to teach a course. There was a female booster at Notre Dame that had a football player's child. I agree every school has had minor infractions in the last year or two, but I doubt there are more than 10 UGA's currently in D1. I don't have a problem with minor infractions most of which are honest mistakes.
Vitale had a great point on ESPN last night: there should be an NCAA rule barring student athletes from attending a class taught by any member of the athletic department. Sounds good to me.
Problem is alot of assistant coaches at non-power houses don't make a lot of money (think along the lines of $20K) and they supplemnt their income by teaching classes. Sure the big schools with big budgets pay assitants pretty well, but it would really kill smaller schools in attracting and retaining assistant coaches.
I'm not saying they can't teach, just that no athletes can be enrolled in their classes. I can see how that might be a problem, though.
