Michael Adams wants you to know at heart he’s another Dawg fan, nothing more, nothing less.
“I don’t have many regrets,” Adams said during an interview in his north campus office in his final weeks as president before his retirement on June 30. “You want to know what my biggest regret is? Not getting the final five yards against Alabama. To have gone out in the national championship game, and I felt that night that was the national championship game and I think the following events proved me right. I’m not sure I’m over that one yet.”
See? That’s just like you or me or any other slob who didn’t preside over the hire of a man who would preside over an embarrassing academic scandal.
But in Adams’ mind, Harrick doesn’t count as his biggest regret because his hire wasn’t really Adams’ fault.
“I said to coach Dooley, ‘Would you like for me to get Jim Harrick in the pool,” Adams said. “He said, ‘Yes. I think the better the pool, the better.’ We interviewed three finalists. Coach Dooley made a recommendation to me for whatever reasons. I think, and still think, that he and coach Harrick got along very well.”
Dooley’s first choice was then Delaware coach Mike Brey, who turned down the chance and eventually landed at Notre Dame. Harrick won the national title at UCLA in 1995 but was fired the next year over expense reports from a recruiting dinner that violated NCAA rules.
“Ultimately on decisions on the head basketball coach and the football coach, I make the decision only from the standpoint of that was my recommendation to the president,” Dooley said.
Adams said Dooley recommended Harrick twice, the second time after Harrick decided he wanted to stay at Rhode Island before changing his mind.
“I think the AD was involved in the hiring, he played the lead role in hiring Jim Harrick, not once but twice,” Adams said. “I think that I can document all that.”
“I think that I can document all that.” ? Who in the hell talks like that in a beat writer interview?
The sad thing is that he probably did make an effort at the time to document it… just in case.
Weiszer wrote a fair piece, which means what you’d expect. But there is one uncontaminated bit of good news in it. We get a vacation.
Adams, who turned 65 in March on what he called his “Medicare birthday,” plans to take a year off from the university. He said he will spend time at his lake house and travel next year to Australia, New Zealand and California and may write books.
Don’t feel any need to rush back on our account.
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