Fansided

30 biggest college basketball scandals of all time

By Mike Phillips

Coll. Basketball: W. Regionals. Michigan's Jimmy King #24 hugging Chris Webber #4 after game vs Temple. (Photo by Harley Soltes/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Coll. Basketball: W. Regionals. Michigan's Jimmy King #24 hugging Chris Webber #4 after game vs Temple. (Photo by Harley Soltes/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty Images/Getty Images) /
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8 Mar 2001: Head Coach Jim Harrick of the Georgia Bulldogs watches the action during the South Eastern Conference Tournament Game against the Louisiana State Tigers at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 63-62.Mandatory Credit: Andy Lyons /Allsport
8 Mar 2001: Head Coach Jim Harrick of the Georgia Bulldogs watches the action during the South Eastern Conference Tournament Game against the Louisiana State Tigers at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 63-62.Mandatory Credit: Andy Lyons /Allsport /

9. Jim Harrick’s son runs fake classes at Georgia

Basketball at the University of Georgia has never been the school’s top sport, with Bulldogs’ football reigning supreme in Athens. It was a major coup for the Georgia program to land Jim Harrick as its head coach in 1999.

Harrick had built an outstanding resume, resurrecting UCLA basketball in the late ’80s, culminating with the school’s 11th national championship (and the only one the school has won since John Wooden retired) in 1995. A scandal forced Harrick out in 1996, and after a year off he took over at Rhode Island, leading them to the Elite Eight in his first season on the job.

Things seemed to be getting off to a good start for Harrick at Georgia, as he got the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament twice and was poised to get them back for a third straight year before more controversy emerged. The latest incident involved Harrick’s son, Jim Harrick Jr, who was one of his assistant coaches at the time.

Harrick Jr committed several rules violations, including paying some expenses for one of his players, but the more serious infraction was an academic one. Three players on the basketball team received an A in a basketball strategy course taught by Harrick Jr even though none of them ever attended the class.

After news of the violations broke, Georgia withdrew from the SEC Tournament and fired Harrick Jr . Harrick himself ended up resigning after Georgia informed him his contract wouldn’t be renewed, and the NCAA slapped Harrick with a seven-year show-cause penalty for his role in the scandal and instructing two players to lie to NCAA investigators. Georgia ended up receiving four years probation for the incident while Harrick never coached a Division I game again.