James Richard Harrick (born July 25, 1938) is a former American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

. He has been the head coach at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

, the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of the state of Rhode Isla ...

and the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

over a combined total of 23 seasons. During the 1994–1995 season, he led UCLA to a 31–1 record and the school's eleventh national championship, its first since the 1974–75 season.

Biography

Born in

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 2020 census and an estimated population of 48,018 in 2021. The Charlesto ...

, Harrick graduated in 1960 from Morris Harvey College, now known as the

University of Charleston The University of Charleston (UC) is a private non-profit university with its main campus in Charleston, West Virginia. The university also has a location in Beckley, West Virginia, known as UC-Beckley. History The school was founded in 1888 as ...

. He is of Lebanese ancestry. On November 20, 2009 Sally Lee Harrick, his wife of 49 years, died aged 70 from complications of

scleroderma Scleroderma is a group of autoimmune diseases that may result in changes to the skin, blood vessels, muscles, and internal organs. The disease can be either localized to the skin or involve other organs, as well. Symptoms may include areas ...

College coaching career

Harrick's coaching career began at

Morningside High School Morningside High School is a public high school in Inglewood, California. It is the second largest high school after Inglewood High School in the city. History In 1951, the first two classes of students came to the Morningside Park area of Ingl ...

Inglewood, California Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 107,762. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. The city is in the South Bay ...

where he served as an assistant coach from 1964 to 1969 and as head coach from 1970 to 1973. He was then hired as an assistant coach at

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...

from 1974 to 1977. Harrick then spent two seasons as an assistant coach at UCLA from 1978 to 1979. His first collegiate head coaching job was at

in 1979, where he led the school to four NCAA tournament appearances and was a conference coach of the year four times.

UCLA

In 1988, he returned to

to assume head coaching duties after the firing of Walt Hazzard. During the recruiting period before his first season, he recruited

Don MacLean Don Maclean (born 1942/1943) MBE KSS is an English actor and comedian, who appeared on the BBC television series '' Crackerjack'' with Michael Aspel, Peter Glaze and Jan Hunt in the 1970s. Born in Birmingham, he attended Clifton Road S ...

, the most significant recruit to commit to Westwood in several years. McLean's arrival helped start a revival of the basketball program. By 1992, the Bruins were back in the Elite Eight, officially the first time they had advanced that far in 13 years. The 1979-80 team went all the way to the national championship game, but had that appearance vacated due to ineligible players. This was officially the second time they had advanced that far since

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national championships in a 12-year period as hea ...

left the school. During the 1994–1995 season, he led UCLA to a 31–2 record (a loss to California was subsequently forfeited to the Bruins) and the school's eleventh national championship, its first since the 1974–75 season. The 31 wins would stand as a school record until the 2005–06 season. A year later, Harrick's Bruins were upset in the first round by

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

. As it turned out, this would be the last game Harrick would coach in Westwood. Shortly before the start of the 1996–97 season, he was accused of falsifying receipts at a student-athlete recruiting dinner when two current players, Cameron Dollar and

Charles O'Bannon Charles Edward O'Bannon Sr. (born February 22, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball with the UCLA Bruins. He was a two-time first-team all-conference player in the Pac-10 (now known as the Pac-1 ...

, joined the table. Since Harrick paid for the entire meal, it amounted to an improper extra benefit for Dollar and O'Bannon. To cover up their presence, Harrick included the names of his wife and the wife of newly hired assistant

Michael Holton Michael David Holton (born August 4, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player, and current television studio analyst for the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA. Born in Seattle, Washington, he played college basketball at Universi ...

on the expense report. When the school investigated, Harrick told Holton to tell athletic director Peter Dalis that Holton's wife was at the meal. However, a day later, Holton confessed that wasn't true. On November 6, 1996, Dalis and school chancellor Chuck Young gave Harrick an ultimatum: resign by the next morning or be fired. Harrick opted to take the firing. Although picking up the tab for Dollar and O'Bannon was a secondary violation at best, Young and Dalis felt Harrick's attempted cover-up was unforgivable. However, Harrick claims that the NCAA has cleared him of wrongdoing. He left UCLA as the school's second-winningest coach, behind only Wooden. However, he is now third behind Wooden and Ben Howland.

Rhode Island

After a one-year hiatus, Harrick returned to coaching by accepting the head coach position at

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. He coached the Rams for two seasons (from 1997–99), where in both years they qualified for the NCAA Tournament. During the 1998 tournament, the Rams upset

Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...

in the second round and reached the Midwest Regional finals but were defeated by

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. S ...

79–77. In his second season, he managed to recruit

Lamar Odom Lamar Joseph Odom (born November 6, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player. As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA), he won championships in 2009 and 2010 and was named the NBA Si ...

and led the Rams to their first

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easter ...

tournament title.

Georgia

After the season, he left URI to become the head coach at the

. He served there for four seasons (1999–00 through 2002–03), leading the

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Rashad Wright and Chris Daniels for a basketball strategy class even though they never attended it. After the story broke, Georgia pulled out of the 2003 SEC Tournament and withdrew from postseason consideration. The school suspended Harrick, Jr. on February 28, 2003 and fired him five days later. Harrick, Sr. was suspended on March 10 and resigned on March 27 after being told his contract wouldn't be renewed. An NCAA investigation confirmed the violations, also finding that six players didn't pay for over $1,500 of long-distance telephone calls in December 2001. The telephone charges in question were due to hotel error and ultimately never charged to the program. Since they weren't valid charges, Georgia didn't self-report the violations until an internal investigation into the program in July 2003. In 2004 the NCAA placed Georgia on four years' probation for the violations. It also forced the Bulldogs to vacate half of their wins from 2001–02 and all their wins from 2002–03—30 games in all. Harrick, Jr. was given a seven-year show-cause penalty order for his role in the academic fraud, as well as telling two of the players involved to lie to the NCAA. The 'show-cause' effectively blackballed him from the college ranks until 2011 at the earliest.

Later career

After Georgia, Harrick worked as a scout for the NBA's

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

and helped develop basketball in China.Jim Harrick to step down as coach of the Bakersfield Jam
Associated Press, December 29, 2007. On June 13, 2006, Harrick accepted the head coaching position for the

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's pop ...

, an

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

team.Harrick to coach Bakersfield in NBA D-league
Associated Press, June 13, 2006. Harrick resigned for personal reasons in December 2007, after the Jam struggled to a 2–14 record.
, NBA.com, December 28, 2007. Harrick later became a college basketball analyst for Prime Ticket, the Southern California affiliate of

Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...

. Since 2018 he has been the assistant men's basketball coach at

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

Head coaching record

College

*Georgia vacated 11 wins in 2001–02 and all of its wins in 2002–03, as well as its share of the 2002 SEC East title and its 2002 NCAA Tournament appearance, due to an academic fraud scandal. Official record for 2001–02 is 11–10 (0–6 SEC), official record for 2002–03 is 0–8 (0–5 SEC).
**Record at Georgia is 37–53 (3–31 SEC) without vacated games.

Awards

*1995: National Coach of the Year (Naismith, NABC) *1995: Pac-10 Coach of the Year *1990: Morris Harvey College-

Golden Eagle Sports Hall of Fame *1982–1983, 1985–1986: West Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (Pepperdine)

References

External links

Georgia profile (2002)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrick, Jim 1938 births Living people American basketball scouts American people of Lebanese descent Bakersfield Jam coaches Basketball coaches from West Virginia Cal State Northridge Matadors men's basketball coaches College basketball announcers in the United States College basketball controversies in the United States College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Denver Nuggets scouts Georgia Bulldogs basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States NCAA sanctions Pepperdine Waves men's basketball coaches Rhode Island Rams men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Charleston, West Virginia Sportspeople of Lebanese descent UCLA Bruins men's basketball coaches University of Charleston alumni Utah State Aggies men's basketball coaches