Harrington Takes Job at Colorado : College basketball: CS Long Beach coach says he wanted a chance to coach in the Big Eight.

Cal State Long Beach Coach Joe Harrington said Wednesday night that he has accepted an offer to become the basketball coach at the University of Colorado.

“I did it for two reasons,” Harrington said. “For a chance to coach in the Big Eight, a great basketball conference, and because Colorado reminds me of where I went to school, at the University of Maryland.”

Harrington, 44, who went to Long Beach from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., was 53-36 in three seasons with the 49ers, turning around a program that had been down for years.

This season he guided Long Beach to a 23-9 record--its best in 16 years--and a National Invitation Tournament appearance.

Harrington had a second interview at Colorado Tuesday night.

“It’s a situation similar to the one I had when I took over at Long Beach,” Harrington said. “They (Colorado’s team) have been last in the conference the last five years.”

Harrington, who replaces Tom Miller at Colorado, had also been a leading candidate for the coaching job at the University of Miami.

Harrington did not say whether he received an offer from that school, but said, “I could have gone to Miami. I had a choice.”

The Miami job, which includes a shoe contract, was reportedly worth $200,000, almost three times what Harrington made at Long Beach.

He did not reveal the terms of his Colorado contract, but said it was comparable to the salary at Miami.

“It wasn’t easy to leave Long Beach,” he said by phone from Denver. “But this is what I’ve worked for, to coach at a place like this. I just couldn’t pass it up.”

Long Beach Athletic Director Corey Johnson said a decision on a new coach may be made today.

Seth Greenberg, who has been Harrington’s assistant, would appear to be the top candidate.