Pepperdine’s Harrick Hired as UCLA Coach

After twice being rebuffed by men with national reputations, UCLA turned to a local candidate with old school ties today, hiring Jim Harrick as basketball coach.

Harrick is a former UCLA assistant who has been the head coach at Pepperdine in Malibu for the last nine years.

Harrick succeeds Walt Hazzard, who was fired 13 days ago. Hazzard, a former UCLA star under John Wooden, was the Bruins’ coach for four seasons. His teams were 77-47, including 16-14 this past season. Before Hazzard, Larry Farmer, another former Bruin, had been the coach.

Since Hazzard was dismissed, Jim Valvano of North Carolina State and Larry Brown of Kansas, a former UCLA coach, were offered the job but turned it down. Brown’s surprising Jayhawks won the national championship a week ago, and Valvano coached N.C. State to the national title in 1983.

Success at Pepperdine

Others rumored to have turned the Bruins down were Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Iowa’s Tom Davis.

Harrick, on the other hand, is anything but a big name. He has indicated several times, however, that he wanted the job very much. And his teams at Pepperdine have been successful.

Harrick, 49, was an assistant coach at UCLA under Gary Cunningham in the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons. When Cunningham stepped down, Brown was hired and Harrick went to Pepperdine, a member of the West Coast Athletic Conference.

Harrick’s Pepperdine teams compiled a 167-97 record, tied for one WCAC championship and won four others outright. The Waves were 17-13 in the season just completed.

Successor Soon

Pepperdine has competed in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament four times in the last nine years.

Mike Zapolski, Pepperdine’s sports information director, said a successor to Harrick would be named soon.

Harrick grew up in Charleston, W.Va., and went to Stonewall Jackson High in Charleston and Morris Harvey College, now known as the University of Charleston.

Before his two years as an assistant at UCLA, Harrick was an assistant at Utah State for four years. Earlier, he had been an assistant coach at Morningside High in nearby Inglewood for five years and Morningside’s head coach for four seasons.