RHODE HOME; HARRICK RETURNS TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.

Byline: Brian Dohn Daily News Staff Writer

Jim Harrick took the University of Rhode Island basketball team to the Elite Eight in March. It's noteworthy - and easily overlooked - because the Rams had never been that far in the NCAA Tournament.

It's often that way with Harrick. He's not remembered for his accomplishments, but for the scandal that cost him the UCLA coaching job.

Two years after Harrick's ouster as the Bruins coach, the 60-year-old is getting along with life just fine.

``He'll win basketball games wherever he is,'' said Santa Barbara athletic director Gary Cunningham, who hired Harrick as his assistant at UCLA in 1977. ``He's a good teacher, a good recruiter and a good coach. I think Jim could live anywhere in the nation and adapt.''

Harrick doesn't build basketball programs, he elevates them to a higher level. He did it with Pepperdine, did it again at UCLA. He's doing it again at Rhode Island, the third stop in his 19-year career. The Rams went 25-9 last season.

To those who played for, or coached with Harrick, it's not a surprise. Winning is expected.

``He won at Pepperdine, he won at UCLA and he won at Rhode Island,'' said Cameron Dollar, a point guard on UCLA's 1995 national championship team. ``He's like a mad scientist but he doesn't share much of his information. That's why people (outside of coaching) don't think he's a good coach. But he's an outstanding coach.''

For the first time since he was fired by UCLA on Nov. 6, 1996, Harrick returns to the area to coach a game. He even canceled an appearance in another tournament to play in Pepperdine's inaugural Sparklett's Invitational that begins today.

It might be one of the few places in Southern California you don't have to beg Harrick to come back to.

UCLA was the job he always wanted. For 23 years he coached in the Los Angeles area, climbing the ladder toward the job he coveted. But Pepperdine is where it started, and there are no bittersweet memories there.

``I still have many friends at Pepperdine, and it's a place I really am fond of,'' Harrick said. ``It holds a special meaning for me.''

In nine seasons with the Waves he won 167 games and went to four NCAA Tournaments. But when UCLA offered him the job to revive its program, he quickly accepted.

Before Harrick, UCLA went to the NCAA Tournament twice in seven years. In Harrick's eight seasons in Westwood, the Bruins appeared in the NCAAs eight times, won 191 games and a national championship.

Yet, Harrick's legacy isn't as the man who turned around a faltering program, but rather as a man who saw an empire crumble at his feet. Harrick is remembered for being fired for breaking an NCAA rule, lying about it and then coercing an assistant to do the same.

``Unfortunately, the end is what people remember quite a bit,'' said Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar, an assistant under Harrick at UCLA from 1992-96. ``But you have to remember the other stuff, too. He's the only coach other than John Wooden to win a national championship at UCLA.''

Harrick's supporters claim the dismissal had more to do with personal differences with UCLA athletic director Peter Dalis than violations. They also place some blame on Steve Lavin, who they claim had designs on Harrick's job.

Dalis did not return phone calls.

``To this day, I still don't understand the inner workings of the administration, and why they did what they did,'' said University of San Diego coach Brad Holland, an assistant at UCLA under Harrick from 1988-92. ``Just knowing how he coveted the UCLA job, I would say it deeply hurts him to this day that he's not the coach there.''

Harrick may not have his dream job anymore, but he's moved on. What lingers more than animosity from the firing is the feud between Harrick and Lavin. They don't talk. Not since Harrick went on ESPN in December of 1996 and said Lavin wouldn't be given the UCLA job on a full-time basis.

``That's been the most unfortunate, difficult part, on a personal level for me, just the fact that our friendship was a casualty of those sets of circumstances,'' said Lavin, who spent five years as Harrick's assistant.

``I remember John Wooden, and the night I got the job he told me he would be very surprised if by the end of the season Jim and I were still talking. I didn't understand it at the time, but he, obviously, was a little bit clairvoyant. He was aware that the natural fallout was going to be the relationship.

``Until it's reconciled, it will always be painful because I feel indebted and grateful to the man, and will always, because he opened the door for me and gave me an opportunity of a lifetime, and moved me up.''

Harrick is persuasive and poignant when discussing most things. But when it came to talking about UCLA and what transpired, he was nondescript. He chose not to nor point blame in any direction.

Mention the relationship with Lavin and Harrick's voice starts to crackle.

``I was the last to call, two or three times, and he didn't return them,'' Harrick said. ``I know it isn't right. But life's made up of choices. Steve made a choice in his life, and that's the choice he made.''

After what happened at UCLA, most coaches would have difficulty finding another job. Harrick was out of the college game for less than a year before landing the Rhode Island position. He went from the Pacific-10 to the Atlantic-10, and the difference is more than just which ocean the school is near.

The expectations aren't to win a national championship, the expectations are only to win, or try very hard to do so. Harrick's been trying very hard and what people know or didn't know about his past doesn't matter.

``I never had a reason to ask him about any of that,'' Rhode Island assistant coach Jerry DeGregorio said. ``He's one of the five nicest people I've met in my life, and I'd put my mom and dad in that group. He's a warm, generous, sincere person. I don't need to read anything about Jim Harrick because I work with him 12 hours a day.''

Life is pleasant enough along the Rhode Island coast that he's remodeling a house that he plans on using until his coaching days are finished. Harrick's not a part of Los Angeles, the place that dominated so much of his life, but he is a quick car ride to Boston.

And, in comparison to the weight brought on by being UCLA's coach, Harrick is experiencing weightlessness.

``It's been great for him,'' said Jim Harrick Jr., an assistant at Rhode Island. ``He's so much more relaxed and enjoying the job at Rhode Island so much more than any other job. I've never seen him more happy than he is right now.''

After last season's success - the Rams were a fluke turnover away from a Final Four berth - the Rhode Island legislator agreed to build Rhode Island an 8,000 to 10,000-seat arena.

``They're following the paths of UConn and UMass in what they've done with building new facilities,'' Harrick said. ``We needed that here.''

Harrick's won 389 games in a career that's seen one losing season, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances and a national title.

He's remembered, at least in Los Angeles, for two of the most notable losses of UCLA history. The first was to Princeton in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament. The other was the loss of his job.

``I can't answer why the perception is like that,'' Cunningham said. ``But right now, they talk about the problems more than the national championship.''

BY THE NUMBERS

Jim Harrick's coaching career stretches from the Waves of Pepperdine to the Rams of Rhode Island. Here's a look at his success:

Year W-L Pct.

PEPPERDINE

y-1979-80 17-11 .607

1980-81 16-12 .571

x-1981-82 22-7 .759

x-1982-83 20-9 .690

1983-84 15-13 .536

x-1984-85 23-9 .719

x-1985-86 22-5 .833

1986-8712-18 .400

y-1987-88 17-13 .567

Total 167-97.633

UCLA

x-1988-89 21-10 .677

x-1989-90 22-11 .667

x-1990-91 23-9 .719

x-1991-92 28-5 .848

x-1992-93 22-11 .667

x-1994-95 21-7 .750

x-1994-95 31-2 .939

x-1995-96 23-8 .742

Total 191-63 .752

RHODE ISLAND

x-1997-98 25-9 .735

Career 383-169 .694

y-NIT Tournament

x-NCAA Tournament

SPARKLETTS INVITATIONAL

PEPPERDINE vs. RHODE ISLAND

Time: 5 p.m., at Firestone Fieldhouse.

TV/Radio: FSW2; live internet broadcast at broadcast.com.

Pepperdine (7-4) update: An ambitious nonconference schedule was supposed to provide the Waves with a few upset wins and a national recognition. Losses to Kansas, Michigan State and Wisconsin toppled those plans, so the consolation prize could be a win in their own tournament. The first round is today with the consolation and championship games Wednesday. One thing working in Pepperdine's favor is the location - the Waves are 5-0 at home. But the Waves are 2-5 in their past seven games, and those wins came against NAIA Southern California College and Division II BYU-Hawaii.

Rhode Island (6-5) update: The Waves needed a prominent name to grab recognition for the inaugural Sparkletts Invitational, and the Rams fit perfectly. It marks the return of one-time Pepperdine coach and former UCLA coach Jim Harrick to Southern California, and he brings a talented bunch led by sophomore Lamar Odom. Odom, the 6-foot-10 forward, leads the Rams in scoring (14.9 ppg), rebounding (9.0 rpg) and assists (4.4 apg). The Rams lost to Cleveland State 73-72 on Sunday.

EASTERN MICHIGAN vs. SIENA

Time: 2:30 p.m., Firestone Fieldhouse.

TV/Radio: None.

Eastern Michigan (0-8) update: The Eagles, after making the NCAA Tournament last year, have fallen hard without mighty mite Earl Boykins in the backcourt. Freshman forward Calvin Warner leads the team in scoring (11 ppg) and rebounding (6.9 rpg). Junior guard Larry Fisher is averaging 10.5 points per game.

Siena (7-1) update: The Saints are playing better than anyone else coming into this tournament. They've won three straight games, including a 106-99 win against George Washington on Dec. 23. Siena is averaging 90.6 points per game, but the Saints do it with balanced scoring. Junior forward Jim Cantamessa, who scored 33 points against GWU, paces five players who average double figures with 13.8 per game. Junior guard Marcus Faison is averaging 13 points per game.

- Brian Dohn

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, 2 Boxes

PHOTO (1--Color) Two years after he was fired at UCLA, Jim Harrick is energizing Rhode Island's program, his third team in 19 seasons.

J. Pat Carter/Associated Press

(2) Jim Harrick, left, and son Jim Jr. led Rhode Island to the Elite Eight last season, the furthest the program has ever been.

Paul Connors/Associated Press

BOX: (1) BY THE NUMBERS (see text)

(2) SPARKLETTS INVITATIONAL (see text)