Harrick Lands Rhode Island Post Ex-Ucla Coach Checked Out Before School Signed Him To Job

Jim Harrick, who led UCLA to the national title in 1995 only to be fired last November for lying on an expense form, Monday was hired to coach basketball at Rhode Island.

Harrick, signed for three years, said, “I made a mistake. I’m ready to move on and put it in the past.”

URI president Robert Carothers said the school undertook an exhaustive background check on Harrick, contacting everyone from janitors at UCLA to Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

He said he found Harrick is well-regarded and the infraction was an “aberration in the character of this man. I learned he is a man of character, of conviction, of faith and resiliency.

“I also learned about his mistakes, about the consequences of those mistakes for him and his family, about self-examination and reflection in which he has been engaged during the past year, and about who Jim Harrick is today and what he stands for.”

Athletic director Ron Petro said Harrick graduated 95 percent of his players at Pepperdine and UCLA, won an average of 23 games in eight seasons with the Bruins, and sent 13 players to the NBA.

Harrick’s contract has a base salary of $125,000 and incentives that could make it worth $250,000, the richest contract in school history.