Former Pepperdine player and assistant basketball coach for Georgia and other institutions, Jim Harrick Jr., has passed away. He was 58. According to UCLA, Harrick Jr. passed away at his San Marcos home on Tuesday from a glioblastoma brain tumour he had been battling for over two and a half years. The university revealed his death on Wednesday; his father Jim Sr. guided the Bruins to a national title in 1995.
Harrick graduated from Pepperdine in 1987, where he played for his dad’s team. In Rhode Island and Georgia, he worked alongside his father’s administration.
Who is Jim Harrick?
American former basketball coach James Richard Harrick was born on July 25, 1938. Over the course of 23 years, he served as head coach at UCLA, Pepperdine University, the University of Rhode Island, and the University of Georgia.
Harrick, a native of Charleston, West Virginia, attended the now-defunct Morris Harvey College (now University of Charleston) and earned a degree in 1960. His family originates from Lebanon. His wife of 49 years, Sally Lee Harrick, passed away at age 70 on November 20, 2009, due to scleroderma-related complications.
Career of Jim Harrick
From 1964 to 1969, Harrick worked as an assistant coach at Morningside High School in Inglewood, California, and from 1970 to 1973, he led the team as head coach. From 1974 through 1977, he worked as an assistant coach at Utah State University. After that, in 1978 and 1979, Harrick was an assistant coach at UCLA for two years. His first head coaching gig was at Pepperdine University in 1979, and he was so successful there that he was named conference coach of the year four times.
After Walt Hazzard’s dismissal as head coach at UCLA in 1988, he returned to fill the vacancy. Before his first season, he signed Don MacLean, one of the most highly regarded prospects in years, making him Westwood’s top recruit. With McLean at the helm, the basketball team began to make a comeback. In 1992, the Bruins had finally returned to the Elite Eight after an absence of 13 years. The 1979–80 squad reached the title game before being disqualified for using ineligible players.[2] Since John Wooden departed the school, this was only the second time they had gotten this far.
Source: WGAU
Jim Harrick Cause of death
Jim Harrick Jr., former Pepperdine player and assistant basketball coach for Georgia and other institutions, has passed away. He was 58.
According to UCLA, Harrick Jr. passed away from a glioblastoma brain tumour on Tuesday at his home in San Marcos. The university confirmed his death on Wednesday; his father, Jim Sr., guided the Bruins to a national title in 1995.
Harrick Jr. graduated from Pepperdine in 1987, where he played for his father. In Rhode Island and Georgia, he worked alongside his father’s administration. Harrick Jr., who had joined the Georgia staff in 2001, admitted that the media guide’s biography on him overstated his playing career and academic honours shortly after he started working there. A season after leading UCLA to a record 11th national championship, Harrick Sr. was sacked for lying on an expense report.
In addition to his time at San Diego State, the younger Harrick served as an assistant coach at Valparaiso, Marshall, and Loyola Chicago.
He left the coaching profession and went to work in the medical field.
His wife Amy, kids Hannah and Holland, father Monte, and brothers Glenn and Monte all survive him. Sally, his mum, passed away in 2009.
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