Report Details Harrick Probe

Deposed UCLA basketball coach Jim Harrick lied to school officials in eight separate instances during their investigation of a recruiting dinner, according to an internal report released Wednesday.

In addition, Harrick twice “compromised” the position of assistant coach Michael Holton through his actions, the report states.

Written by Donald G. Morrison, the school’s faculty athletic representative, the six-page report begins with the Oct. 15 expense form submitted by Harrick for a $1,085 recruiting dinner four days earlier at a Westwood restaurant, and ends with Harrick being caught in a series of lies by UCLA investigators.

That dinner, the school believes, violated the NCAA one-player-per-recruit rule because there were five UCLA players present--Cameron Dollar, Charles O’Bannon, Bob Myers, Kris Johnson and Jelani McCoy--and only three prospective recruits--the Collins twins, Jarron and Jason (who have since committed to Stanford) and Earl Watson. Though the two extra players, Dollar and O’Bannon, apparently were at a different table, their dinners were included on the bill.

School officials cited the possible NCAA violations and Harrick’s conduct afterward as reasons for his firing on Nov. 6.

But Robert Tanenbaum, Harrick’s lawyer, said Wednesday that the report falls short of giving UCLA cause for the dismissal. Because he was fired for cause, UCLA says it does not owe Harrick $1.8 million remaining on the five-year contract he signed last year. Tanenbaum reiterated that Harrick might sue to be paid for the rest of his agreement.

“In his contract, there must be an NCAA violation committed to give them cause to fire,” Tanenbaum said. “As this report shows, there’s no violation. Because there was a one-to-one ratio of players to recruits, since O’Bannon and Dollar were at a different table and Jim didn’t know they were being added to the bill.

“Also, it was corrected, the two players made restitution. Also, the university hasn’t been sanctioned, and won’t be. So where’s the violation?”

Harrick acknowledged on Nov. 6 that he misled investigators, but said he was only trying to protect O’Bannon and Dollar.

The report states that Harrick tried to hide the presence of the two players at the dinner by replacing their names on the expense report with those of his wife, Sally, and LaShell Holton, Michael’s wife. Also at the dinner at Monty’s restaurant were assistant coach Steve Lavin (now the interim coach), assistant Jim Saia and Lavin’s girlfriend, Treena Camacho.

The report weaves a trail of UCLA suspicions about the high bill for 13 people (apparently inflated by several orders of lobster, at about $65 apiece), to the revelation of the falsified expense claim, to the fact that Holton, on Harrick’s insistence, initially lied to Athletic Director Peter T. Dalis and Morrison on Oct. 18 about the presence of his wife and Harrick’s wife at the dinner.

Sally Harrick arrived late, the report states, but didn’t eat anything. LaShell Holton was not at Monty’s that night.

“On October 18th in the morning before Holton’s interview with Dalis and Morrison,” the report says, “Holton asked Harrick, ‘Were the wives there?’ Harrick replied, ‘Yes, they were there.’ ”

But, a day after his first interview, the report says that Holton left a message on Dalis’ home answering machine, which led to Holton’s crucial second interview with Dalis on Oct. 21.

“During this later interview with Dalis and Morrison, Holton said he felt terrible about lying in the previous October 18th interview,” the report reads.

Holton then told the officials that Harrick had told him to lie about his wife’s presence at the dinner.

Why did Holton lie? “When he was hired, Harrick told Holton that Holton’s highest priority was loyalty to him, Coach Harrick,” the report says.

Wednesday after practice, Holton refused to speak about the dinner.

O’Bannon said he understood the anguish Holton must have been feeling during the investigation. “That’s your boss asking you to lie to his boss,” O’Bannon said.

Lavin, Saia and O’Bannon said Wednesday that they always told the truth to school officials and never were asked to lie by Harrick. Lavin said the questions he was asked were strictly about what players were in attendance.

Dollar said he wasn’t asked to lie by Harrick, saying: “It wasn’t Watergate, I’ll tell you that.”

The report was released in response to California Public Records Act requests by several news organizations, including The Times. UCLA omitted portions of the report it believes are exempt from disclosure.

The report says that the investigation began when Steve Salm, the associate athletic director-business, saw the $1,085 bill.

According to the report, Harrick was interviewed by Dalis and Morrison a day after filing the expense form, and he said Dollar and O’Bannon were not part of the dinner party and paid for their own meals. He also said that Sally Harrick and LaShell Holton arrived late to the dinner.

On Oct. 17, two days after receiving the expense report, Salm and assistant athletic director Mike Dowling went to Monty’s and interviewed the waiter who served the Harrick dinner party.

On Oct. 18, according to the report, Dollar and O’Bannon admitted that their meals were paid for by Harrick. That alleged violation was reported to the Pacific 10 Conference and to the NCAA.

Harrick’s second interview with Dalis and Morrison came on Oct. 18, when Dalis “stressed the need to tell the truth,” the report says. Dalis told Harrick that the Pac-10’s David Price would be at UCLA soon, and the school needed to know all the facts.

“Harrick vaguely implied when pushed by Dalis and Morrison that the $1,085 bill might ‘look better’ with 13 people rather than the 11 who were in the official recruiting party,” the report reads.

Five days later, Harrick was given one more chance to clear up the story, the report says. After Harrick lied three times when asked by Dalis and Morrison on Oct. 23 if LaShell Holton and Sally Harrick were at the dinner, Dalis and Morrison finally confronted Harrick with the facts, the report says, and Harrick admitted he had lied.

Harrick was told Nov. 5 to resign or he would be fired.