Georgia placed on four years probation for basketball violations

<p>The University of Georgia was placed on four years probation Thursday for rules violations under former coach Jim Harrick involving academic fraud, unethical conduct and improper benefits in the men's basketball program.</p><p>The NCAA decided not to impose a one-year postseason ban on the basketball team, citing the school's self-imposed penalties in which it pulled the team out of the 2003 SEC and NCAA tournaments.</p><p>The school's athletic department is on notice for the next five years. A violation by any Georgia athletic program before April 2009 could result in stiffer penalties.</p><p>Georgia athletic director Damon Evans said the school plans to appeal.</p><p>Noting the school's self-imposed sanctions, Evans said he found the punishment too strict.</p><p>"Because of this, and the cooperation the university has exhibited throughout the investigation process, it is our opinion that four years probation and the scholarship reductions are excessive," Evans said.</p><p>The basketball team will lose one scholarship for each of the next three seasons, forfeit its 30 victories from the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons and lose official credit for participating in the 2002 NCAA basketball tournament.</p><p>The violations centered on former assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr., the son of the Bulldogs' former head coach.</p><p>The NCAA found that Harrick Jr. violated the organization's principals of ethical conduct by providing $300 in a wire transfer to Eva Davis, a friend of former Georgia player Tony Cole for Cole's personal expenses.</p><p>The NCAA also found that Harrick Jr. violated the ethical conduct code during the fall semester of 2001 when he gave an 'A' to three players _ Cole, Rashad Wright and Chris Daniels _ who did not attend the class in basketball strategy he was teaching. Harrick Jr. also encouraged Daniels and Wright to lie to university and NCAA investigators, the committee found.</p><p>The NCAA Committee of Infractions said it was troubled by "the number and range of instances of unethical conduct in which the assistant coach engaged. In this regard, the committee could recall few, if any, instances in which three separate and substantively different findings of unethical conduct were made against one individual."</p><p>Harrick Jr. now must get permission from the NCAA before accepting any sports-related job at any school governed by the organization.</p><p>The committee noted that it "found each of the several explanations of the assistant coach not credible and also found that these explanations were inconsistent."</p><p>Harrick Sr. was not named in any of the allegations and "was not at risk in this case," said Thomas Yeager, chairman and commissioner of the NCAA committee.</p><p>The NCAA also found that the university staff was responsible for permitting six basketball players in November and December 2001 to receive extra benefits by not requiring them to pay for long-distance telephone calls incurred while the team was away from home. The extra benefits totaled $1,572.66 and were not reported to the NCAA until July 2003.</p><p>The university also will be required to pay back revenue it received from participating in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. The amount is still being determined, school and NCAA officials said.</p><p>The Bulldogs will also have to vacate all the wins involving the players, and the team's records will be revised in all official publications, including the media guide and recruiting materials. The university's athletic department must meet specific reporting and staff-training requirements set out by the NCAA.</p><p>The university already was considered a repeat violator of NCAA rules because of sanctions imposed on the football team in 1997 for football recruiting violations, Yeager said.</p><p>"Any violations within that five-year period jacked up the consequences," he said. "If there is another major violation in any sport at the University of Georgia ... it does increase the potential consequences."</p><p>The school will notify the NCAA of its plans to appeal within the required 15 days, Evans said. He would not provide detail about the grounds of the appeal.</p><p>"We are prepared to move forward as an institution with full attention to the new safeguards in place as we appeal a portion of the sanctions," school president Michael Adams said in a statement.</p><p>An attorney for the Harricks did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.</p>

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