Ucla Violations Told

Fired UCLA basketball coach Jim Harrick lied to administrators, misused tickets and made too many calls to recruits, according to Pacific-10 and NCAA investigations.

Harrick admitted to some transgressions, “but they were very minor … not even minor,” Harrick, now head coach at Rhode Island, told the Long Beach Press-Telegram for Tuesday’s editions.

Harrick lost his eight-year position at UCLA on Nov. 6, 1996 for violating the NCAA’s extra-benefits rule and lying about it.

Harrick told the newspaper that he doesn’t think he or UCLA will be penalized by the NCAA’s committee on infractions. Penalties will not be determined until late November or early December, the newspaper said.

The most serious violation was considered to be Harrick’s lying to school investigators about the circumstances of an Oct. 11, 1996, recruiting dinner.

The report by the Long Beach newspaper seems to support a Los Angeles Daily News article earlier this week, in which an unidentified source close to the situation told of similar findings by the Pac-10 and NCAA.