12/21/24
March 10, 2003
Jim Harrick out as UGA head basketball coach.: The school has also decided to voluntarily remove itself from the SEC and NCAA Tournaments. This brings up the question: What was Harrick thinking in that interview with Dick Vitale last Tuesday? When he said the truth would come out, is this really what he meant?
posted by bcb2k2 to basketball at 03:55 PM - 2 comments
OK, apparently the story is Harrick is suspended with pay pending an internal university investigation. A good friend of Harrick, Dick Vitale, questions the reasoning behind sitting out all postseason play, thus hurting the players who did nothing wrong. I see the reasoning behind sitting out the tournament: show the NCAA that you're giving self-inflicted wounds and maybe it will go lenient on any possible punishments to come. However, this action does harm the student athletes who were expecting an attempt to put a bright light on this dismal end of a season. And, being a Florida guy (not exactly a UGA fan), even I don't know that this is the right gesture.
posted by bcb2k2 at 09:51 PM on March 10, 2003
I go to UGA and am an avid fan of the basketball team...me and my friends would get there hours before the game to get seats right behing the basket so we could be seen on TV (btw, if anyone is wondering, the seats behing the basket SUCKS. the side seats are MUCH better for viewing the game). Anyways, we all knew when Harrick was hired that he brought baggage with him from his URI and UCLA days (I mean, come on! What coach doesn't have baggage who wins a national championship at arguibly the Notre Dame of college b-ball and is fired that summer). So, we knew it would happen but didn't think it would be this big of a deal. A few thoughts on this is a) If they're paying Cole (who sucks...a lot), i hate to know what Jarvis Hayes gets paid. And, if they weren't paying other players like Jarvis, then why go after such a crappy player like Cole? b) speaking of other players besides wright and daniels (they got suspended for academic fraud or something), it royaly sucks for them and the fans to not be able to play in the NCAA and SEC tourny. I understand trying ot head off NCAA sanctions, but I don't think doing this really allays the sanctions. c) There is a large amount of dissent over the current school president, Mr. Adams, who forced Harrick's hiring down Vince Dooley's (our AD) throat who wanted to hire Buzz Peterson, who appears to be running a pretty tight ship. In the end, though, this sucks the most for players like ezra williams, jarvis hayes (a STUD who was planning on staying for his senior year), and wilkins (a 6th man stud who was coming into his own...Unlike Jarvis, not good enough for the NBA this year, but given next year to lead a quality team, could have been true NBA material).