Jim Harrick

For other people with similar names, seeJames Herrick (disambiguation).

James Richard Harrick(born July 25, 1938) is an American formerbasketballcoach. He was thehead coachatUCLA,Pepperdine University,theUniversity of Rhode Islandand theUniversity of Georgiaover a combined total of 23 seasons. During the1994–1995 season,he led UCLA to a 31–1 record and the school'seleventh national championship,its first since the1974–75 season.

Jim Harrick

Harrick in 2008
Biographical details
Born	(1938-07-25)July 25, 1938 Charleston, West Virginia,U.S.
Alma mater	Morris Harvey College
Coaching career (HCunless noted)
1963–1969	Morningside HS(assistant)
1969–1973	Morningside HS
1973–1977	Utah State(assistant)
1977–1979	UCLA(assistant)
1979–1988	Pepperdine
1988–1996	UCLA
1997–1999	Rhode Island
1999–2003	Georgia
2006–2007	Bakersfield Jam
2018–2021	Cal State Northridge(assistant)
Head coaching record
Overall	470–235 (college)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA Division I(1995) 5×WCACRegular Season (1981–1983, 1985, 1986) 3×Pac-10Regular Season (1992, 1995, 1996) Atlantic 10 tournament(1999)
Awards
Naismith College Coach of the Year(1995) Pac-10 Coach of the Year(1995) 4× WCAC Coach of the Year (1982, 1983, 1985, 1986)

Biography

Born inCharleston, West Virginia,Harrick graduated in 1960 from Morris Harvey College, now known as theUniversity of Charleston.

College coaching career

Harrick's coaching career began atMorningside High SchoolinInglewood, Californiawhere 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 atUtah State Universityfrom 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 atPepperdine Universityin 1979, where he led the school to fourNCAA tournamentappearances and was a conference coach of the year four times.

UCLA

In 1988, he returned toUCLAto assume head coaching duties after the firing ofWalt Hazzard.During the recruiting period before his first season, he recruitedDon MacLean,the most significant recruit to commit to Westwood in several years. McLean's arrival helped start a revival of the basketball program. By 1992, theBruinswere 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 sinceJohn Woodenleft the school.

During the1994–95 season,he led UCLA to a 31–2 record (a loss to California was subsequently forfeited to the Bruins) and the school'seleventh national championship,its first since the1974–75 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 byPrinceton.

As it turned out, this would be the last game Harrick would coach in Westwood. Shortly before the start of the1996–97 season,he was accused of falsifying receipts at a student-athlete recruiting dinner when two current players,Cameron DollarandCharles O'Bannon,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 assistantMichael Holtonon 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 was not true. On November 6, 1996, Dalis and school chancellorChuck Younggave 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 andBen Howland.

Rhode Island

After a one-year hiatus, Harrick returned to coaching by accepting the head coach position atRhode Island.He coached theRamsfor two seasons (from 1997 to 1999), where in both years they qualified for the NCAA Tournament. During the1998 tournament,the Rams upsetKansasin the second round and reached the Midwest Regional finals but were defeated byStanford79–77. In his second season, he managed to recruitLamar Odomand led the Rams to their firstAtlantic 10 Conferencetournament title.

Georgia

After the season, he left URI to become the head coach at theUniversity of Georgia.He served there for four seasons (1999–2000 through 2002–03), leading theBulldogsto the NCAA tournament twice following a losing record.

His tenure at Georgia ended in controversy in the spring of 2003. His son, Jim Harrick Jr., a Georgia assistant, got into trouble for paying $300 in expenses for one of his players, Tony Cole. He also gave an "A" to Cole,Rashad Wrightand Chris Daniels for a basketball strategy class even though they never attended it. The class also had a test with the question, "How many points is a three-point basket worth?" 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 would not be renewed.

An NCAA investigation confirmed the violations, also finding that six players did not 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 were not valid charges, Georgia did not 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-yearshow-cause penaltyorder 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 'sDenver Nuggetsand helped develop basketball in China.

On June 13, 2006, Harrick accepted the head coaching position for theBakersfield Jam,anNBA Development Leagueteam.Harrick resigned for personal reasons in December 2007, after the Jam struggled to a 2–14 record.

Harrick later became a college basketball analyst forPrime Ticket,the Southern California affiliate ofFox Sports Net.From 2018 until 2021, Harrick was an assistant men's basketball coach atCalifornia State University, Northridge.

Head coaching record

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Pepperdine Waves(West Coast Athletic Conference)(1979–1988)
1979–80	Pepperdine	17–11	9–7	T–5th	NIT First Round
1980–81	Pepperdine	16–12	11–3	T–1st
1981–82	Pepperdine	22–7	14–0	1st	NCAA Division I Round of 32
1982–83	Pepperdine	20–9	10–2	1st	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1983–84	Pepperdine	15–13	6–6	T–4th
1984–85	Pepperdine	23–9	11–1	1st	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1985–86	Pepperdine	25–5	13–1	1st	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1986–87	Pepperdine	12–18	5–9	7th
1987–88	Pepperdine	17–13	8–6	4th	NIT First Round
Pepperdine:		167–97	87–35
UCLA Bruins(Pacific-10 Conference)(1988–1996)
1988–89	UCLA	21–10	13–5	3rd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
1989–90	UCLA	22–11	11–7	4th	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
1990–91	UCLA	23–9	11–7	2nd	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1991–92	UCLA	28–5	16–2	1st	NCAA Division I Elite Eight
1992–93	UCLA	22–11	11–7	3rd	NCAA Division I Round of 32
1993–94	UCLA	21–7	13–5	2nd	NCAA Division I Round of 64
1994–95	UCLA	31–2	16–2	1st	NCAA Division I Champion
1995–96	UCLA	23–8	16–2	1st	NCAA Division I Round of 64
UCLA:		192–62	108–36
Rhode Island Rams(Atlantic 10 Conference)(1997–1999)
1997–98	Rhode Island	25–9	12–4	2nd(East)	NCAA Division I Elite Eight
1998–99	Rhode Island	20–13	10–6	2nd(East)	NCAA Division I Round of 64
Rhode Island:		45–22	22–10
Georgia Bulldogs(Southeastern Conference)(1999–2003)
1999–00	Georgia	10–20	3–13	6th(East)
2000–01	Georgia	16–15	9–7	3rd(East)	NCAA Division I Round of 64
2001–02	Georgia	22–10*	10–6*	T–1st(East)*	NCAA Division I Round of 32*
2002–03	Georgia	19–8*	11–5*	3rd(East)
Georgia:		67–53**	33–31**
Total:		470–235
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

*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 its2002 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 (12–31 SEC) without vacated games.

Awards

• 1995: National Coach of the Year (Naismith, NABC)
• 1995:Pac-10 Coach of the Year
• 1990: Morris Harvey College–University of CharlestonGolden Eagle Sports Hall of Fame
• 1982–1983, 1985–1986: West Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year (Pepperdine)

Personal life

On November 20, 2009 Harrick's wife of 49 years, Sally Lee, died aged 70 from complications ofscleroderma.His son Jim Jr. died in April 2023 at age 58 after battling abrain tumorfor 2½ years.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four appearances by coach

External links

• Georgia profile (2002)