Wilkins considered a long shot -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Associated Press ATHENS, Ga. -- Former Atlanta Hawks star Dominique Wilkins interviewed for the Georgia coaching job Tuesday, a day after ex-Chicago Bulls coach Tim Floyd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Georgia is searching for a replacement to Jim Harrick, who resigned last week amid accusations of improper payments to players and academic fraud. Wilkins, who was known as the "Human Highlight Film" because of his spectacular dunks, is considered a long shot because he lacks coaching experience and a college degree. But Wilkins, who left Georgia after his junior year for the NBA in 1982, was granted an interview Tuesday with the school's athletic director, Vince Dooley. Wilkins' agent, Neal Allen, said Wilkins wants the chance to make his case to university president Michael Adams. "He'd certainly like to have an interview with Dr. Adams and have a chance to talk to him," Allen told the newspaper. "That's probably the next logical step." Floyd, 49, has not coached since December 2001, when he resigned from the Bulls after a 49-190 record. Floyd, hired away from Iowa State, succeeded Phil Jackson, who was coach of the Michael Jordan-led teams that won six titles. Floyd was interviewed at Dooley's home near the Athens campus on Monday, the newspaper reported. Floyd then flew back to his home in New Orleans on a private jet. Associate athletic director Damon Evans declined to say who had been interviewed. "We are in the process of talking to people," he told The Associated Press. Evans said that with national signing day approaching, the goal was to have a new coach in place shortly after the upcoming Final Four weekend. "We're looking for a person of integrity, someone with a great knowledge of the game, someone with the academics and who has a clean background,'' Evans said. Coaching experience also is a must, he said. Wilkins said he didn't think his lack of coaching experience would hurt him. "Look at the (NBA's) Eastern Division," he said. "Three of the top teams in the East are coached by guys that came right off the playing field and went into coaching." Wilkins scored a school-record 23.6 points per game for the Bulldogs in 1980-81. Wilkins, who played for the Hawks for more than 11 of his 15 seasons and was a nine-time All-Star, scored 26,668 points during his career -- ninth-most in NBA history. Another obstacle for Wilkins in getting the Georgia job is that in 1985 he acknowledged that he received $30,000 in secret payments from a sports agent while he was still playing at Georgia, a violation of NCAA rules. See... sometimes leaving school early does end up biting you in the ass later on in life, even if you did make millions on top of millions of dollars by the age of 40.
Can anyone say Clyde Drexler. When Clyde took the UofH job, it was on the condition he would get his degree. He needed like a semester or two worth of classes. He's still not a college graduate. That was one of UofH's worst moments.
Only reason UGA would hire Wilkins is probably to keep his nephew Damien on the team. That's gotta suck for Damien. He transferred from NC State to win. While UGA sat out, NC State was in the tourney.
