Amputating Harrick from UCLA painful but necess

Thursday, November 7, 1996

OPINION:

Firing deemed fair despite the fame and glory brought by
coach

It was the most exciting time in my three years at UCLA. The
final buzzer had just sounded and the celebration had begun as the
UCLA men’s basketball team assumed the mantle of national
champions. At the focus of our revelry were Ed O’Bannon, Tyus Edney
and Jim Harrick.

Today, even with the images of that wild night in April still
fresh in my mind, I’m pleased with the decision that the
administration took in firing coach Jim Harrick. I’m relieved that
his questionable actions in the past couple of weeks will not have
the chance to manifest themselves again.

I’m sad because the man who put together the fondest memory I
have as a Bruin won’t have the chance to do it again.

It is becoming a mantra of mine because it’s been said before
and it will be said again. Universities have to begin taking
tougher stands when NCAA infractions are discovered. There can be
no more sweeping violations under the rug to protect programs, a la
Nebraska, Miami and others.

Taking just such a stand is exactly what Athletic Director Peter
Dalis and Chancellor Charles Young combined to do Wednesday. Like
University of Rhode Island President Robert Carothers, who
suspended his school’s football team when team members beat up
fellow students, Young and Dalis have conveyed this simple message
of zero tolerance for NCAA infractions.

And let there be no bones about it: Harrick broke a rule, plain
and simple, when he covered up the attendance of two host
student-athletes at a recruiting dinner. He also dug his own grave
when he lied about the inflated expense report to both Dalis and
Chancellor Young.

It is the obvious question: who really cares if five players
instead of three attend a recruiting dinner? I would hope that any
recruit who comes to this school would do so because of what it can
offer, not because of how many people break bread with them.

That is a fight for another day, for while the bylaws may be
strange in their creation and meaning, they are the bylaws Harrick
broke, and under the terms of his contract Harrick could have been
terminated for such misconduct and should have been.

And yet …

I have never been so proud to be a Bruin than when I could walk
around my hometown up north wearing my national championship
T-shirt.

I have never enjoyed a sore throat more than when I shouted
myself hoarse listening to Harrick introduce the team that brought
the championship trophy back to its rightful home.

This was the guy who brought glory back to our school and a
banner for our rafters.

He is also the man who has shamed a program that, especially in
light of its partner programs, has been squeaky clean. Harrick is
the one who lied to the administration and failed in his promise to
his team that he would always be there.

Yesterday, new head coach Steve Lavin referred to the team as "a
family", and Harrick, with a family of his own, should recognize
the impact of what he has done.

If any good can come of this, let it be the equivalent of a
sharp slap upside the head for schools which consistently let much
greater infractions slide by. Let’s hope that the Nebraskas of the
collegiate world stop letting sex offenders and violent felons take
the field and instead execute an acceptable course of action. For
when all is said and done, UCLA will be able to say it acted
fairly, decisively and with integrity when an abuse of an NCAA
bylaw came to light.

The university with the greatest basketball program in
collegiate history canned its head coach for an infraction that
most probably didn’t know existed. This was the just course of
action because not only was a rule broken, but a state institution
had wool pulled over its eyes.

UCLA’s actions need to serve as the next part of a national
wake-up call for greater university enforcement of ethical
requirements.

I’ve always hated being woken up, but this wake-up call stings
the most.