Billyboy78 wrote: ↑2 years ago
SGreenwell wrote: ↑2 years ago
bigappleram wrote: ↑2 years ago
Coaching is a results oriented business. Not sure how you can say the guy who achieved the biggest results (Elite 8) is ranked below numerous other coaches. Wins matter...he won in the biggest way, everything else is noise. You can say whatever you want about Harrick based on your own personal beliefs but anyone in the game will tell you the dude was an excellent coach and knows the game inside and out. He directly made Cuttino Mobley a multi multi millionaire and got an 8,000 seat arena built on campus. Name any other Rhody coach in the modern era with that legacy. Since mid 80s the list has to look something like this...
Harrick
Penders
Hurley
Skinner
Baron
Claude/Malone/Cox
Jerry D
He was here for two years, and essentially recruited two significant players to URI - Lamar Odom and Luther Clay. I can understand the argument for him at #2, but I'd personally value Skinner more. (Not sure about Penders or Hurley.) I'm valuing stability and length of results a bit more here, but yeah, I get why some others would value "peak" more. Just a difference of opinions.
You're not considering the class he had coming in? 3 or 4 McDonald's AA including Jason Kapono who went on to score over 2000 points at UCLA and would have been one of the best players in our history?
1.Harrick
2.Kraft
3.Penders
4.Hurley
5.Skinner
6.Baron
7.Claude/Malone/Cox
8.Jerry D
BAR,
I agree with your list, just going back to include
Jack Kraft. To be honest I had a very hard time putting Baron ahead of Claude/Malone/Cox. Maybe Malone goes to 6 and Baron goes to 7 with Claude/Cox. Baron had that brand, spanken new Ryan Center and never recruited the caliber of players that Harrick and Hurley did who Baron was in-between and for an awful (and I mean awful) long time. Kraft put us on the map with the best player I've seen in my lifetime with UR in Sly:
- Sylvester Sly Williams
- Jiggy Williamson, from the great Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven CT. Jiggy's teammate Bruce "Soup" Campbell was very highly recruited and went to PC. Juggy's brother was Super John Williamson, also played at Wilbur Cross, New Mexico State and had a strong ABA and NBA Career. 30 ppg game one year with NY Nets. Could shoot the lights out
- Stan Wright
- Jimmy Wright (Stan's little 6'8" brother)
- John Nelson who I'd love to see in a 3 point shooting contest with Jimmy Baron. They didn't have the 3 point shot then
- Irv Chatman who Jack Kraft got to fill the center role for defense and rim protecting. Highly recruited HS player from NYC who went to Tennessee - played with Bernie and Ernie. Transfers were quite rare back them. Was big news for Chatman to come to Rhody.
- Percy Davis and Willie Middlebrooks from Warwick RI. Both were walk ons that earned scholarships with Jack Kraft. Davis could sky, amazing jumper. Middlebrooks was a good shooter
As for Harrick:
He only left URI not as strong as they would have been because he left:
Odom was hoped to have stayed if Jerry D got the HC job. That was the plan. But he didn't
Odom was the #2 ranked HS player in the Nation his Senior year. He was front cover of the Parade Magazine Annual All American Team. He announced going to play for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, but ended up at URI with Jim Harrick. Highest ranked HS player ever at URI
During his last Winter/Spring:
Harrick was heavily involved with recruiting Jason Kapono as Billyboy said. Kapono was buddies with Josh Kronke who went on to Missouri. URI was very close to landing both of those guys. They were talking of going to the same school - URI.
Harrick also was heavily involved with 6'11" highly ranked Ivan Kartelo who went to Notre Dame and then transferred to Purdue
and with 6'11' Jabari Smith who went to LSU and the NBA. His Son 6'10" Jabari Smith at Auburn is expected to be the #1 pick in this year's NBA Draft.
Harrick had things rolling. Ryan Center came about because of Harrick, Tom Ryan, Governor Lincoln Almond, and others.
In 1997 ESPN Nationally broadcast Midnight Madness from URI, Duke, South Carolina and Tennessee. Digger Phelps was under a tent outside Keaney Gym with the Broadcast team. Jim Harrick crowd surfed in Keaney Gym. Robert Carothers made the gutsy call to hire Jim Harrick when Al Skinner departed for BC.
Amazing times. We soon moved from Keaney Gym to the beautiful Ryan Center.
To me Harrick is easily #2, behind the Legendary Frank Keaney