NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 1995

Jim Harrick

COACH HARRICK: Let me address the second part first. They build no statues for critics. And, really, it doesn't bother me a bit. I'm going to tell you that. I do get tired of every adjective you use of "beleaguered" and "under siege" and "often criticized." I want that eliminated, because I'm going to tell you something. I've lived a vanilla life. I was 13 years a high school coach and no one ever said a word about me. 1973 we had the No. 1 high school team in America, voted by Basketball Weekly magazine, Larry Donald. I was six years the assistant, and you don't even get on the census bureau when you are an assistant coach; they don't even know you're alive. I spent 9 years at Pepperdine, which is one of the most beautiful places in the whole world, greatest people you'd ever want to be around. Won 5 conference championships the first 7 years. They liked me and thought I could coach. The first four years at Pepperdine, there wasn't one negative word written about me in our program. And then two years we had talk radio and a few years some things were written by a few people, and it seemed to magnify to an Nth degree for about two years. And then we lost talk radio in Los Angeles and it was over, hasn't been a word written negative this year. So, really, that is way, way overrated. And I'd like to get out all your preseason article the adjectives, "often criticized" and "beleaguered," and "under sieged," eliminate those words, because that's not right. There's always going to be some people that criticize you, and I understand that and we all do. There's always going to be some fence post people that are with you when you win and against you when you lose. And there's always going to be the real true fans that want you to have a great program, graduate your people, do it within the frameworks of the NCAA rules and regulations, and your players are socially adjusted and you run a sound program. So, it really hasn't been that bad. I just want to clear that up. I'm not sure how I would feel if I won a National Championship. It has been a very special time for me to be here personally. And to just run through the tournament, 99 percent of your mind is just on what you're doing, just right through the games. I get home last night about 8 and about 8:30 we order room service and get in the room and watch tape until about 3 in the morning. So you really don't equate what you're doing -- you've just got another game to play. I'm sure somewhere on some fairway as I'm walking down this spring or summer, I'll enjoy it. But it's been very, very special.

COACH HARRICK: You learn to play basketball from 3 to 5:30 everyday, that's when you learn how to play. And we've been doing the same thing since October 15th, and the same thing since I was coaching in high school, we are a controlled, fast break team that runs a fast break only when he have the advantage or when we think we can get a clear-cut, road to the basket. Arkansas, you can watch all the tape you want, and if you can figure out what they're doing, you're Houdini, because I can't figure out what they're doing. They trap you and they press you and you never know when it's coming. And what they do, they do a great job of getting you out of what you practice everyday. And there are a lot of teams that do that. Mike Krzyzewski's first few teams he brought to the tournament were overplayed, take you out of what you like to do. Bobby Knight is probably a master of taking out about three things you want to do and finding your weakness and drawing it out of you and taking away your strength. There's nobody better. So, teams like that want to get you in a secure situation, where the game comes down to dribble, drive, penetration. And we're not bad at that either. So, we have enough people, and I've always watched basketball, and I guess a team like Arkansas, you need some guys who can pass the ball and catch the ball and take it to the basket, and if you can do that, then you'll be fine. It goes back to the old saying about Coach Wooden, I asked him years ago, I asked him, "Coach, why don't you work on being down one with ten seconds to go, special situations?" He said, "Jim, I never expected to be in that situation."

COACH HARRICK: Last two games they weren't. The last two games there was no luck involved. I thought that we had a real close shave against Missouri, but we beat them. I also thought that Arkansas had three close shaves and maybe the other team helped them win a little bit. So, there's the difference. But it doesn't make any difference now; they're here. They've achieved their goal, and you've got to give them a lot of credit. I go back to the thing that -- another thing that I use on the board every year, and it's a definition of a great competitor, and there's a long -- a couple things about a great competitor, one of them, great competitors never let you get upset. And that's what I think about when I think about Arkansas winning those close games.

COACH HARRICK: When I first came to UCLA and we would play Arizona who had Sean Elliott and Cook and those guys, and obviously they had a lot more people than we did. We played North Carolina that year. I kept saying, my lands, we get a lot of shots; we just don't make them. I wonder why that is? Well, they get you into a game, and I think Arkansas, as you saw last night, will give you a lot of looks at the basket. But you're in such a scurrying pace that it's usually a little faster than you normally play. And they're flying around everywhere and long arm, big, strong athletes, and you know you better shoot or they're coming after you. You get a little scurrying, a little hurrying, a little of this and a little of that, and they're very successful at that. Some teams tried to slow them down, other teams have played them and won. They haven't won every night, but they've been a very consistent team, very consistent.

COACH HARRICK: We had Tracy Murray, we had a lot of three point shots, a lot of three point shots. Because that bad boy can shoot them. But I think it's the direction our team has gone this year. We're not going to live by them, but there's nights that we're very good at it, and there's nights -- we just take what the defense gives us. They give us that; we'll take it. Ed's hit seven in one game, four against LA, they come out in the zone. He hit 26 points against Kentucky; they started in the zone. So it really doesn't make any difference, take what the defense has given you. And that's been my philosophy all along. When you've got a guy like Tracy Murray, cream rises to the top, and he's always open, no matter what distance, and he's shot some good ones.

COACH HARRICK: That was part of the reason I think only Coach Bartow had been a Division I Head Coach, and the five guys that he had hired to succeed Coach Wooden. I sat there and watched them, and I knew that sometime, some day there would always be some criticism, and we went through it for a couple of years, and that's about all. I felt that I had nine years of Division I head coaching experience, been to 4 NCAA tournaments and two NIT's, I'd grown-up with most of the officials in the Pac 10 through the West Coast Conference, and I was at Utah State as an assistant for four years. I knew most of the writers, because they'd all grown up and come through southern California. So I'd lived in the town, I had been at the University as an assistant for two years, I knew the officials, I knew the league, because I'd been in it for two years. I knew the coaches and a little bit about their style. So, I thought I was a little bit more prepared than -- I was only worried about myself, but I thought I was well prepared. And people want to know why aren't some of the teams here that -- why didn't Carolina make it last year, obviously they had more talent last year than this year. Kentucky. And why didn't UCLA in the past? But No. 1, it's hard to get here, but No. 2, why didn't Coach Wooden come the first 15 years? It's a combination of your players, and the chemistry and the listening and the understanding and the talent and the injuries and the luck, and there's all kinds of things. Eddie Sutton obviously is a marvelous coach. And he came 17 years ago. He made the statement yesterday, he came and the next year he went the Elite 8 and got beat, and he thought, well, we'll be back. It's been 17 years since he's been back. So, it's very difficult. There's all kinds of intangibles that go into making your team. And I tell you, I read this about Nolan Richardson and what he's done in the last six years, and it's mind boggling the games the guy has won. He's been here three times in six years. That's incredible. That's incredible what he's done.

COACH HARRICK: It's kind of the way the team has been all year long. We've had two constants, we've had Ed O'Bannon and Tyus Edney. They've always been there, a great foundation. And around that somebody else has always stepped up. Against UConn I didn't have enough minutes for everybody. I took Charles out to rest the second half and he was playing magnificently, 13 minutes to go, and I never put him back in. But other times Mississippi State, J.R. and Toby didn't play well, but Charles played well and Zidek played well and Ed and Tyus, so, the beauty of our club, it's been somebody different helping Ed and Tyus each night out. And in an open court game I look for them to be ready to play a lot better on Monday night than they did last night.

COACH HARRICK: I think that was an error, I think it was some people, just some people -- not at UCLA. I don't think there was anybody at UCLA. I read that same thing, and I wondered about that. I don't know -- well, people anywhere, all over the country, in the city of Los Angeles, it's kind of like the old New York Yankees, they don't want them to be successful, because they have been in the past. I maybe thought about that, yes. We had some tough things happen to us, Madkins got hurt, and Ed O'Bannon blew his knee out and Tracy Murray left a year early. And those are things you can't overcome. But I know we have been consistent and solid and sound, and that's all I worry about.

COACH HARRICK: Well, I can only say that Gene Bartow went 52 and 8 and to a Final Four. And why, I don't know. Gary Cunningham 50 and 8. And no one ever said a negative word about him. And Larry Brown went to a Final Four in '80 and was gone before the end of the season the following year. And why that is, sometimes I don't know what goes on on the inside of a person when they get a Division I head coaching job, because sometimes it tears a guy apart. And obviously these gentlemen were very, very good coaches. But hopefully I was never put in a situation I couldn't handle, and learned a lot by sitting there watching these guys. And I always new that they would-- some day somebody is going to get on you. They're going to start and they're going to find something about you. The thing about Los Angeles is they dissect you like a frog in a biology class, everybody watches you and they seem to be the head coaches. Certainly UCLA is scrutinized to the Nth degree, and that's all a part of it, and I understand that.

COACH HARRICK: I think, No. 1, he's a great, great friend. And what UCLA basketball is today is what he's made it. And I just -- we were very good friends before I got the job at UCLA. And I could never turn my back on a good friend. I want him to be here more than he really is. I'm proud of the tradition, and certainly not scared of the ghosts. And I promised myself, and this goes back to his question of following the five previous coaches, I'm never going to let anything outside bother me. And I learned it from Coach Wooden, you listen to too much criticism, it hurts your coaching. You listen to too much praise, and it will also hurt your coaching. You walk through the lobby of our hotel, and you think you're King Kong, and you're only really as good as your next game.

COACH HARRICK: Well, really it was in the framework of the same school district. I spent four years as a junior high teacher, I got my high school credential and master's degree, I spent 5 years as a JV coach and head baseball coach, two championships, and four years as Head Coach. And my first four years of teaching were in self-contained classroom. There's some of you that don't know, that's teaching all subjects in the 7th grade. And I had a great assistant principal by the name of Ken Blake and through four years he taught me how to teach, and I'll never, ever forget that. And I go to high school and I'm teaching five classes of English and I'm a junior varsity baseball and basketball coach, and I try things, I can experiment, I can run offenses and defenses and no one knows what you're doing, and you can have fun. Boy, it's fun. You're young and it was a great, great experience. I enjoyed every moment of it. Then I got a high school job and I'd already, in my mind, learned a little bit about how to teach. I learned a little bit about how to coach. Teaching is 3:00 to 5:30 everyday, and coaching is during the game. So, there really is a difference. And I used to go watch Coach Wooden, I'd go around and watch everybody, Tark was at Long Beach and Boyd was at SC. I'd come to 23 NCAA tournaments, and watch all the coaches coach on a Friday afternoon, and that was a special time for me. Then I got an assistant's job at Utah State and I was there four years. And you learn. And what I did was scout every opponent, take their offense and take their defense and try to learn about what's good about some of the things I want to do and what's not so good. What is good defense. Then I came to UCLA as an assistant, and I did the same thing. And I really learned the system even better than I had from Gary Cunningham, a marvelous teacher and one of my best friends. Then I got my head coaching job at Pepperdine, and when you lost a game, they still liked you, great place. And I could box and chase, I could triangle and two. I could zone and man and I could run, but I could do anything I wanted to do because I didn't feel the pressure to win a game. So, I thought all those experiences really helped me when I got the job the UCLA. I knew you cannot teeter in that philosophy. Everyday I want to get better. I want to learn new drills. I've learned a lot of new things from last year to this year. And my assistants are constantly talking to every assistant coach in the country, what do you do, how do you guard the screen and roll, what do you do when a guy -- if we like something, and we went to the NBA and goes back to Missouri -- I went up and watched a Golden State Warriors practice. They have a drill, a ball guy is standing out-of-bounds, the player is right there, and the defensive guy is there, inside the foul line, and you toss the ball to the guy, and he's got to turn and go the length of the floor one-on-one in six seconds and score. We put that drill in and we ran it about 6 or 8 times a year. And lo and behold we came to the Missouri came, and Edney had the ball, so I had seen him break everybody's ankles as the kids say, boom, boom, boom, boom. So, I knew he could catch the ball, get it up the floor, get it to the rim. And I said one thing, "Son, make sure you shoot it." And I didn't know whether it would go in or not, but I'd seen him do it 20 times. So, it was just things like that. And, you know, I'm not any different coach than I was all 7 years at UCLA. Don't think Coach Knight is any different this year than he was two years ago, and Coach Krzyzewski's teams, and John Thompson's team and Dean Smith's team, was he a better coach this year than last year? He'd probably tell you he was. But it's got a lot to do with the players that grab hold of the system and listen and understand and want to be a great, great team. A lot of players have their own agendas, listen to a lot of other people than they do the coaches sometimes.

COACH HARRICK: Don't turn it over. You start October 15th with being fundamentally sound. And hopefully we can handle any situation. That's just been fundamentally, that's why Coach Wooden never worked on half court traps, because his team was fundamentally sound, catching, passing and dribbling, and not turning the ball over. If you don't turn it over, it won't be any defense in the world that will hurt you.

COACH HARRICK: I would say getting there. My wife and I went to high school together, and I went to college, and she went to college, and I graduated and got married that summer and left that night, came to Los Angeles, drove into Los Angeles and knew nobody. 28 years later you become the Head Coach at UCLA. That's one of the great thrills of my life, just being there. One of the great thrills is putting in a position to be considered for the job, not that you got it, just putting yourself in a position to be considered. And the second thing is I've gone from a junior high teacher to a JV coach, to a high school teacher, to an assistant in college, to Head Coach of Pepperdine Division I school, to Head Coach at UCLA, and it's all been done in the same city. That's the second biggest thrill. So, there's two things and have really nothing to do with getting the job, just putting yourself in a position.

COACH HARRICK: There's only been one guy that had any influence over the UCLA basketball program. When I was an assistant it was J.D. Morgan. And since he's passed away, there's only been one name, and that's Chancellor Young.

COACH HARRICK: Off campus, no. That's a myth, because when I was there things like that get overblown, and I knew him well, and that's not true at all.

COACH HARRICK: My mother was born in Pittsburgh, I spent the first 15 summers of my life, three, four weeks to a month every summer in Pittsburgh. My uncle used to sell the paper downtown. I used to go down there and help him. And the paper cost four cents. They'd give us a nickel and he made about four or five dollars, then we'd go back to the station and they'd flip quarters and he'd lose all his money. That was a great lesson to me. I spent a lot of time on the Bluff. We lived in the Hill District. That was a real nice area.

COACH HARRICK: I doubt there's a possibility that he wouldn't play. But I really don't know, I really don't know.

COACH HARRICK: He plays ten, nine guys, and we play seven. If that is the difference we'll probably get beat. I've always felt that seven is enough. There's many games I don't have enough minutes to the -- guys for the minutes we have. Tyus Edney has got better players to play with than Pooh Richardson, Pooh Richardson is one of my all time favorites. He was a great leader, he ran our team. I thought he was a great, great, great player. And if he were on this team, he would be doing some of the things that Tyus Edney would be doing. He's a great player, and just a great, great defender. He was terrific.

COACH HARRICK: Might they have to adjust their players, too? We'll see. That's why you're going to be there, see what happens.

COACH HARRICK: No, I really don't. Oftentimes like in an arena like this I'll look up and see where my wife is sitting. But I don't really have any situation. I have to save all my thoughts and voice because I have to help the officials, you see.

COACH HARRICK: You know, I'd like to do that, but if you walk through my lobby at my hotel is you'd hear one more, coach, win the next one, coach, you've got one more, coach, win the next one, coach. You're only as good as your last game. I'm not going to reflect until the game is over. I do appreciate the fact that we're the last two teams in America playing amateur basketball, and that's a great thrill to be in this game. This is a great game to be in. I've dreamed my whole life, I've dreamed my whole life to be in a game of this magnitude. And believe me, I'm not the only coach that's dreamed it, too.

COACH HARRICK: It was only the 4th and 5th year that it was talk radio. And then it was gone. No, be careful what you ask for, it may come true. I think life is made up of challenges, and it was funny, and I believe in my heart a little bit of it was faith. And my nine years at Pepperdine I had about eight different opportunities to leave. About four of them I did not get hired, and about four of them I stepped away from, I did not want to -- did not want the job. So, it never seemed to work out. But I've talked to Coach Wooden about it, and he said do you have peace of mind? I said great peace of mind. Are you frustrated? No, I'm not frustrated. If you're not frustrated and have great peace of mind. I a 180 degree view of the ocean, and I was my own boss, and they absolutely loved me. And they thought I could coach and they liked me and they embrace you as a family at Pepperdine. And they took my family and it was a great, great, great job. There's a couple of moments I thought why didn't I stay, but not very many. I can handle anything that sort of comes over the radio or comes out in print. That all is harmless. If it's going to get me, it's going to be coaching and recruiting and things like that. But I don't worry about that.

COACH HARRICK: I probably wouldn't have stepped away from that, I talked to Frank about that, but I don't think I got past talking to him on the phone. There's probably three processes in the job, an introductory meeting, a true interview, and let's get down to the specifics and talk about the job, and the package and everything. And I just had a phone call with him at Arkansas.

COACH HARRICK: I've known Lorenzo Romar since he was in the 8th grade and he's always been an underdog. He went to high school and never started, never started, went to junior college, the last guy on the team, ended up starting and getting a Division I scholarship, never played the first year. And that's a great story, too, I don't have time to tell you. But we were playing them-- and I'll tell you anyway. We were playing them when I was in UCLA and he was up here. And Denny Houston and I were good friends, and I said Denny you can't beat us because you're not quick enough at guard. They went out that night and started Lorenzo Romar, and they beat us. He started the rest of the time and got drafted and played. Lorenzo is like any young guy, most young guys that grew up in Los Angeles, they'd give their left arm to go to UCLA, and he never got a chance. And he's living a dream of being an assistant basketball coach there. And he passed up a couple of jobs this year that he really had a real close chance to get, to stay at UCLA, and I love him and appreciate him for that, because he's a terrific, terrific person. And I can only feel going through it with my mother and father the same thing, the trauma of something of this magnitude. No matter how you feel or what the length of time or whatever, when you lose a parent, it really, really hurts. And it hurts no matter how they treated you, no matter what your relationship was, they are your mother and father. And he'd come out here from Oklahoma to be with us during this time and he was sitting right in front of my daughter-in-law, and he was sitting right beside Joe Gottfried, all up there with our families together. And my daughter-in-law is a physical therapist, and she reached over to Joe and said, Joe, there's something wrong with him. He might be having a heart attack, because he was sweating and he kind of fainted and Joe Gottfried went out and got the paramedics and they came out and took him to the hospital. And we were watching a tape about 1 o'clock last night in my room and we got a call from the hospital that they were taking him in and operating on him. So, Coach Romar is there now. He was there until about 4 o'clock this morning. And then one of our friends went over to the hospital and found out that he was in stable condition, and that's about all they would tell us. So, our prayers go out to him, because it's a tough time right now for him to balance all the things you've got to balance.

COACH HARRICK: Yeah, I remember I remember my athletic director coming to me and saying, hey, Jim, Tulsa wants to play us and they'll give us this sum. That was an unheard of sum for Pepperdine, unheard of. Athletic director says why don't you go in there and play him. That means go play him, fish face, because we need the money. And so we got on a plane and took my little guys out to Tulsa and I tell you, it was 40 below the night we were there. My guys would not go outside. I had three or four guys that had never seen snow. They should have stayed outside. Because we went in the arena and he had Ricky Ross who had about 19 years at Kansas and in Division I basketball. He had a host of guys; Johnson. They beat the living crap out of us. They beat us about 30. They had us 30 and he took them out and cut it to 20 and put them back in so they'd beat us 30 again. But it was a great learning experience.

COACH HARRICK: No, they don't know him very well. They've never spent much time with him at all. And really young people aren't real history buffs. It could have been 800 years ago for all my guys care. In the 1960's and 70's, that's so long ago, I mean you can't even believe that. So, I don't think that -- I think they have great respect about the things they've heard from their parents and things like that more than anything. Young people you'll find out are enthralled with the moment.