Georgia: Blame Is on Harrick Jr.

Former Georgia assistant basketball coach Jim Harrick Jr. was solely responsible for the academic fraud that left two players ineligible, the school said in a letter to the NCAA.

Starters Chris Daniels and Rashad Wright were declared academically ineligible in March after an investigation showed they were given preferential treatment in a class taught by Harrick. The course, “Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball,” has been taught at the school since 1970, and it’s required for students seeking certification in coaching.

The contents of the letter sent to Julie Roe, the NCAA’s director of student-athlete reinstatement, were first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Associated Press obtained a copy of it Wednesday.

In the letter dated April 14, university director of compliance Amy Chisholm requested the “immediate reinstatement” of Daniels and Wright because Harrick’s actions “led to the ineligibility of these two student-athletes, through no fault of their own.”

As a result of the scandal, Harrick Jr. was fired and Jim Harrick resigned as head coach.

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Forward Sean Phaler of Villa Park High has been released from his letter of intent to play basketball at UCLA and is free to contact other schools.

Tennis

Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat German qualifier Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix at St. Poelten, Austria. Second-seeded Albert Costa was beaten by Frenchman Anthony Dupuis, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

Top-seeded Jelena Dokic of Serbia and Montenegro lost to qualifier Karolina Sprem of Croatia, 5-7, 6-1, 3-6, in the second round of the $170,000 Strasbourg Open at Strasbourg, France.

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Top-seeded Chanda Rubin beat Ivana Lisjak of Croatia, 7-6 (5), 6-1, at the $170,000 Spanish Open at Madrid.

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Germany’s Tommy Haas pulled out of the French Open after not having played a match this season because of a shoulder injury.

Olympics

John Kim, the son of a powerful IOC member and a fugitive from U.S. justice, has been arrested on 3 1/2-year-old charges related to the Salt Lake City Olympic scandal. Kim was arrested Sunday in Bulgaria on a warrant from the international police agency Interpol and faces extradition to the U.S., FBI special agent Eugene Casey said.

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Paris will bid for the 2012 Olympics, putting the city in competition with New York, London and Madrid. Paris played host to the Games in 1924 and in 1900.

Track and Field

World 100-meter record holder Tim Montgomery withdrew from Saturday’s Prefontaine Classic at Eugene, Ore., saying he was suffering from a sore Achilles’ tendon.

Horse Racing

Colita, purchased privately by Team Valor after breaking his maiden in January, won a Belmont Park allowance race Wednesday by 2 1/4 lengths, running 1 1/16 miles in 1:40 3/5, and was declared a starter for the $1-million Belmont Stakes on June 7.

Passings

Frank “Pop” Ivy, the only coach to direct teams in the NFL, AFL and Canadian Football League, has died. He was 87.

Ivy had been in poor health for a long period before he died Saturday in Norman, Okla.

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Nick Roman, a defensive end for the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns in the early 1970s, died Sunday of a heart attack at 55.