ATHENS, Ga. -- Jim Harrick was hired Wednesday as basketball coach at Georgia after guiding UCLA to a national championship in 1995 and spending the past two seasons at Rhode Island.
A source close to the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Harrick will replace Ron Jirsa.Georgia called a 1:30 p.m. news conference to announce the hiring.
Harrick, 60, has a career record of 404-190 in 19 years as a head coach at Pepperdine, UCLA and Rhode Island. He accepted the Georgia job after agreeing not to bring his son, Jim Jr., as an assistant coach because of the state's strict anti-nepotism law.
After winning the national title at UCLA, Harrick was fired on Nov. 6, 1996, for his involvement with a recruiting dinner involving more players than allowed by NCAA rules. Harrick paid the dinner tab and allegedly lied about how many people were at the dinner.
Harrick apologized and admitted to a lapse in judgment but said he did not deserve to be fired. He accused UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis of being "out to get me."
After sitting out the 1996-97 season, Harrick returned to coaching at Rhode Island, leading the Rams to the NCAA tournament in two straight seasons. They reached the regional final in 1998 and lost to Tennessee in the first round this year.
Harrick was chosen as the Bulldogs coach over Appalachian State's Buzz Peterson, who was endorsed by Dean Smith and Michael Jordan, his former coach and teammate, respectively, at North Carolina. The other finalist, Delaware's Mike Brey, removed himself from consideration.
Georgia president Michael Adams was apparently the driving force behind the hiring of Harrick, who was at Pepperdine when Adams served as the school's vice president of development.
Harrick was the Pepperdine coach for nine seasons, a tenure that began in 1979 and included four NCAA tournament appearances and the only losing season of his college career in 1986-87.