UCLA’s National Search Has Local Ending : Waves’ Harrick Doesn’t Mind That He Isn’t First Choice

After reaching an impasse with North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano, getting a quick no-thanks from Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski and waiting for indecisive Kansas Coach Larry Brown to decide that he didn’t want the job, either, UCLA settled Tuesday for Pepperdine Coach Jim Harrick as its next basketball coach.

At least it would seem that UCLA simply settled. But maybe not.

In making the announcement at a campus press conference Tuesday that Harrick would be succeeding the recently fired Walt Hazzard, UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis said that he had considered Harrick a top candidate from the start and that Harrick had come with the highest recommendations of North Carolina Coach Dean Smith and Louisville Coach Denny Crum.

And Harrick himself thinks that, of all the coaches in the country, he’s the best one for the job. He told Dalis and Chancellor Charles Young that when they interviewed him.

He understood why they talked with big-name coaches first. As Harrick was saying just the other day, “Larry Brown just won the national championship, for heaven’s sake.”

But one major difference between Brown and Harrick was that, Harrick wanted the job. Or, at least, he knew he wanted the job and he didn’t hesitate to go after it.

Harrick has applied for the job before, and this time he lost a lot of sleep as he waited to see whether Brown would take it, and then, after Brown had turned it down, whether Brown might come back into the picture.

Harrick said: “After Larry decided not to come here, I took the approach that I thought they ought to hire someone who really wanted the job.”

Harrick signed an agreement, saying that he has accepted the job, but no contract has been drawn up. He hasn’t signed anything with salary figures on it, but he didn’t seem too concerned about that.

“What I signed says I accepted the job through 1992, and that was all I needed to know,” Harrick said.

As he said, Harrick wants to be UCLA’s coach.

“When I recruit, I look at how much a kid wants to play for me,” Harrick said. “I think that counts for a lot.”

Harrick, an assistant under Gary Cunningham at UCLA for two seasons, 1977-78 and 1978-79, has been the head coach at Pepperdine for the nine seasons since then, preparing for his hoped-for return to the Bruins.

He has had success at Pepperdine, four times being named coach of the year in the West Coast Athletic Conference, four times winning 20 games or more, five times winning the WCAC title and compiling an overall record of 167-97. Harrick has taken the Malibu school to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament four times in the last seven years.

That’s twice as many trips to the tournament as UCLA has managed in that span.

Harrick grew up in West Virginia, but is a longtime Los Angeles area resident. He got his coaching start at Morningside High in Inglewood, then was an assistant for four years at Utah State before joining the UCLA staff.

He pointed out that he has been in Division I coaching for 15 years, 9 as a head coach, and that he has strong ties in the local high schools, where he plans to do most of his recruiting.

“I can pick up the phone and call almost any coach in Southern California and find him, any time of the day or night,” Harrick said. “I can be to five high schools before another guy could find the first one and figure out where to park.”

As for Harrick’s not being a nationally known coach, Bruin forward Trevor Wilson said: “Coach Harrick is not a big-name coach because he hasn’t had the opportunity yet. But now that he’s at UCLA, he’ll become a big-name coach.”

Wilson also said that any speculation that he might transfer can stop now.

Harrick met with the Bruin players Tuesday before his press conference and left them all feeling positive and confident. Bruin guard Pooh Richardson said: “This is the best I’ve felt since the first or second year I was here.”

Harrick, who comes on with a candid, positive approach, told the players to forget the past and look to the future. His confidence was obvious.

Harrick told reporters: “I’ve always said the single most important ingredient in any basketball program is the head coach. . . . I used this in our interview and I believe it: UCLA plus Jim Harrick gives you a solid, sound program.”

Harrick was asked about the five coaches who have followed John Wooden and failed to develop a dominant program over any length of time. Harrick said that he has had the advantage of watching those five come and go, seeing the positives and the negatives. He says he has learned from them.

“I know the magnitude of the program,” he said. “I know the kind of things we can accomplish.”

Pressure?

“If you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, then you ought to get out,” he said, making no move for the door.

Harrick said that one of his Pepperdine assistants, Tony Fuller, would be on his staff at UCLA and that the other, Tom Asbury, would join him as well if Asbury does not replace him as head coach at Pepperdine.

Asbury, however, apparently has decided to stay on at Pepperdine as Harrick’s successor. The Malibu school has called a news conference for 10 a.m. today to introduce its new coach.

Without Asbury, Harrick will hire one of about six prospects for the other full-time position on the Bruin staff. Among them are Kris Jason, an assistant under Hazzard who is doing the day-to-day work of recruiting and keeping tabs on the current players during the change of regimes, and Bob Hawking, the coach at Simi Valley High School.

The mention of Hawking brought immediate questions about whether he would be making a package deal for Hawking and Hawking’s star player, 6-foot 9-inch Don MacLean, who is reportedly considering signing with the Bruins after the McDonald’s all-star game in Albuquerque, N.M., Sunday.

Harrick said: “Absolutely it would not be a package deal. I don’t make deals with kids. I’ve known and respected Bob Hawking for years. I tried to hire him twice at Pepperdine, but I didn’t have the money.”

Getting the UCLA job was a nerve-wracking process one for Harrick. He said he talked with UCLA officials early in the search, then sat back and watched while they interviewed the others, then thought it was over, as everyone else did, when Brown told UCLA he was taking the job last Friday morning.

When Brown made his surprise announcement Friday afternoon, Harrick heard about it first from reporters. Within 10 minutes, he said, Dalis was on the phone, setting up a Saturday meeting.

His hopes soared then, but he didn’t get to breathe the big sigh of relief until Tuesday morning at 7, when Dalis called and said: “How would you like to join me in the toughest coaching job in America?”

Harrick said: “It’s amazing the way the pieces all fit into the puzzle. . . . God works in mysterious ways sometimes.”

Harrick said that if things had not worked out, he wouldn’t have jumped off the Malibu Pier because he liked his position at Pepperdine. But, he added: “I’m glad I’m sitting here today.”

HARRICK’S RECORD AT PEPPERDINE

Year W-L Pct. 1979-80 17-11 .607 1980-81 16-12 .571 1981-82 22-7 .759 1982-83 20-9 .690 1983-84 15-13 .536 1984-85 23-9 .719 1985-86 25-5 .833 1986-87 12-18 .400 1987-88 17-13 .567 Totals 167-97 .633