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Columns::April 7, 2003
Digest
Men’s head basketball coach resigns
UGA men’s head basketball coach Jim Harrick Sr. submitted his resignation March 27 to athletics director Vince Dooley. Harrick has been under suspension with pay since March 10 pending the results of an ongoing joint investigation by the university, the NCAA and the SEC.
Under the resignation agreement, which became effective March 27, Harrick will receive those payments due as of that date: remaining base pay, radio/TV payments and a Nike payment, which all together total $254,166. As does any university employee, he will receive his Teachers Retirement System contributions and payment for unutilized annual leave.
“This entire situation has been, and is, regrettable for the athletic program and the university,” said Dooley. “Coach Harrick is an accomplished coach of the game of basketball; however, I believe his resignation and retirement at this time to be in the best interests of the Athletic Association and the university, and Coach Harrick obviously believes it is in his best interests, as well. Our focus now is to complete with continued commitment the investigation, which we have said from the outset will be pursued to the furthest extent. We will also now begin the search for a new coach.”
President Michael F. Adams said, “Jim Harrick Sr. is a man of considerable coaching talent in whom Coach Dooley and I had placed a great deal of confidence. We were greatly disappointed to lose that confidence due to Coach Harrick’s failure to appropriately manage the basketball program. Based upon the facts discovered in the investigation to date, his resignation is appropriate, and we accept it.”
Adams continued, “I greatly regret that this issue has had a negative impact on the university. I also regret that this particular personnel decision, on which Coach Dooley and I were in agreement from the start, did not work out. We will now concentrate on working with the NCAA and SEC to right any wrongs and get the men’s basketball program back as it should be among the very best in the nation both on and off the court. I believe it is time for us to close this chapter and move forward, and this action makes it possible for us to do that.”
Parking deck receives ‘solution’ award
The university’s construction of the Carlton Street parking deck has earned the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute’s award for Best All Pre-cast Solution in the institute’s 2002 design awards program.
The Carlton Street parking deck was designed and constructed over a period of eight months to meet the deadline in August 2002.
“The difficult site was overcome by pre-cast off-site fabrication methods and fast construction.” An article in the PCI Journal said that the speed of construction was important, as was aesthetic value. The final deck has “classical architectural elements, including the appearance of stone arches and fenestrations, a heavily rusticated base and an ornamental cornice.”
Forestry student wins Laerm Award
The Georgia Museum of Natural History has selected Sarah Fritz, a student in the Warnell School of Forest Resources, as recipient of the 2003 Joshua Laerm Academic Support Award. The award honors the museum’s first director and supports studies in natural history by students enrolled at the university.
The award will support Fritz’s inventory of plants and animals harvested for traditional medicine by Makuleke healers on the northern boundary of the Kruger National Park, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Fritz is particularly interested in assessing the environmental impact of such harvests and the threat they pose to certain species. She will conduct her research under the direction of John P. Carroll, associate professor of forest resources.
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