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Questions abound NCAA, Georgia begin investigating Cole's accusationsPosted: Tuesday March 04, 2003 11:15 AMUpdated: Tuesday March 04, 2003 6:38 PM
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- NCAA and University of Georgia officials have questioned two basketball starters about allegations made by former player Tony Cole. Rashad Wright and Chris Daniels were pulled out of practice Monday and asked questions about a class they took with Cole in 2001, Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley said Tuesday. The class, "Coaching Principles and Strategies of Basketball," was taught by assistant coach Jim Harrick Jr., son of head coach Jim Harrick. Cole said he received a passing grade without ever attending the class. "The investigative team is seeking the truth, which is what we want," said Dooley. "As always happens, one thing leads to another, which leads to another. The history is that it will go on for a while."
Wright and Daniels were expected to play Tuesday in a home game against No. 3 Florida. Cole told ESPN last week that Harrick Jr. committed academic fraud and paid part of his expenses, including a $300 telephone bill Cole ran up while staying with the mother of a friend in 2001. A Western Union receipt for $300 identified the sender as "Jim Harrick." Harrick Jr. was suspended Friday with pay. "There was one allegation, perhaps more serious than the others, that prompted me to dismiss Jim Harrick Jr., until there's some resolution to all of this," Dooley said. "That was the document about the $300." Cole played 16 games with the Bulldogs in the 2001-2002 season, but he was kicked off the team after being charged with aggravated assault with intent to rape. The charge was later dismissed. Cole also said Harrick Jr. took, or arranged for someone else to take, two correspondence courses for him from Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill. The University of Rhode Island, where the older Harrick coached before coming to Georgia, is also investigating allegations that players received money from the coaching staff, including Harrick Jr., and had their grades changed. Southern University coach Ben Jobes said Cole visited him last month and said he'd like to play at Southern. "I told him I didn't think would be a wise for a kid who has been through as much as he's been through to come home," Jobe told The Advocate of Baton Rouge. Would he want Cole? "No, no, no, no, I wouldn't want him here. Tony Cole? I'm too old to deal with that," said Jobe, 70. "Years ago, maybe. I've had them all. "But I don't need any problems, and I don't think the university is ready for him. I don't think this is a good situation for him." Cole played on Glen Oaks High School state championship teams in 1995 and 1996, but coach Harvey Adger kicked him off the team after that. Cole was on his own before high school; his mother is institutionalized and his father died in an accident several years ago. He moved back to Baton Rouge in January, after university police barred him from the Georgia athletic facility for his behavior there. Cole did not return a call to The Advocate through his attorney Steve Sadow of Atlanta. "All I know is he wants to play basketball somewhere," Sadow said. "College or overseas, I don't know specifically." LSU senior guard Collis Temple III, who played youth basketball with Cole in Baton rouge and played pick-up basketball last summer with him, described Cole as "a nice guy, but he's kind of a Jekyll and Hyde. The last time we played, he tried to elbow me. But I wish him the best." Temple's father, former LSU player Collis Temple, has been an AAU coach for many years. He kicked Cole off of one of his AAU teams several years ago for bad behavior. "I told coach Harrick not to sign him," the elder Temple said. "I told him it wasn't going to work." |
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