For UGA Basketball, The Turmoil Never Seems To end

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For UGA Basketball, The Turmoil Never Seems To end

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uploaded by Christopher Byrne

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  uploaded by Christopher Byrne | add comment

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  uploaded by Christopher Byrne | add comment

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  uploaded by Christopher Byrne | add comment

Athens, GA (Oct 30, 2007) - When you are a head basketball coach at a college more known for its college football program, it might be tempting to think that you can live in the shadows and earn a pretty good living. But ever since Tubby Smith brought excitement and crowds to Stegeman Coliseum at the University of Georgia from 1995 to 1997, UGA is on its 3rd Head Coach, Dennis Felton. Brought in to clean up the academic and basketball program from the mess created by Jim Harrick and Jim Harrick, Jr., Felton came to Athens with a no-nonsense attitude and started to lay down the foundation for a solid, respectable basketball program. Unfortunately, his rules have been too hard for some to understand, and before practice even started this year, probable starters Mike Mercer and Takais Brown (pictured at left), as well as reserve Albert Jackson were suspended for 6 to 15 games for violating Athletic Association policy. What was the simple policy they violated? It was not for missing class, as reported in other media outlets including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Athens Banner-Herald. They were actually suspended for failure to meet academic support obligations (not grades). Hoping the players would get the message that the rules were important may have been too much for Felton to expect. from all of the players. On Friday, October 26, 2007, Brown was dismissed from the team for reasons unrelated to academics.

Deconstructing a Program

UGA is not, much as their fans would like to think, a traditional basketball power in the same sense that Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky are. Led by Dominique Wilkins, know as the "Human Highlight Film" during his NBA playing career, the 1983 team did make the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament. However, the sad fact is that they play their games in a building designed to be a barn for the agriculture school. After the 1983 Final Four appearance,  the program went through a long period of mediocrity.

Following the 1994 season, long-time coach Hugh Durham was fired, and Tubby Smith was brought in to build a program. Smith was successful right out of the gate, but left for Kentucky after only two seasons.

UGA took a gamble and promoted Ron Jirsa to head coach. For many, this was an unmitigated disaster, posting only a 35-30 record from 1997-1999. Then the dam broke. UGA President Michael Adams put his hand in the pot and essentially forced the Athletic Association to hire long-time friend Jim Harrick as the next coach. Harrick, who had been fired previously by UCLA for alleged misconduct, came in and fired up the program. He built an aggressive non-conference schedule and brought fans back to the coliseum.

But Harrick wanted to hire his son as an assistant coach, which would be a violation of the State of Georgia's anti-nepotism rule. So a deal was crafted where Harrick, Jr. would be hired as a faculty member in the physical education department, and report less than half-time as assistant basketball coach. Unfortunately, little or no oversight existed in this arrangement. The result was academic fraud and the now infamous "basketball" test given to players in his class that asked brain-challenging questions like "how many halves are played in a game" and "draw the three-point line".

Felton's Daunting Challenges

UGA's Adams had little choice but to cut his ties with his friend and have him fired. To rebuild credibility, UGA hired the successful and no-nonsense Felton (pictured left) from Western Kentucky, where he compiled a 100-54 record, including a 76-20 record from 2001-2003. He came in having no scholarship players and essentially having to start from scratch. His rules were tough, and those who could not hack them left the team. So with a squad of walk-ons and seven scholarship players, Felton's Bulldogs started over in the 2003-2004 season. That team won 16 games and went to the NIT. In 2004-2005, Felton had only 8 scholarship players, and struggled to an 8-20 record (2-14 in Southeastern Conference play). The next year the team improved to 15-15 (5-11 SEC).

In the summer of 2006, tragedy struck the team. Former walk on and team leader Kevin Brophy was killed in a car accident. The team took his memory and inspiration to finish 19-14, including a first-round win in the NIT. Hopes were high for this season and season ticket sales were reaching their best level in years. Then came the suspensions of the three players, followed by the dismissal of Brown.

It is unclear at what point the coaching staff knew players were failing to meet their academic support obligations. What is clear is that Coach Felton is not a man of empty words, and his rules are to be followed. So they will be without Mike Mercer (pictured right), who missed the last 10 games last year because of an injury, for 15 games once he is medically cleared to play. They will be without Brown, who led the team in scoring last season at 14.2 points per game and also in field-goal shooting at 56.6 percent.

The turmoil surrounding the Georgia basketball program never seems to end, but there is one consistency on the bench: Coach Felton. Hopefully the fans appreciate that he is there to build men for success after college, just not a winning basketball program.

Photograph of Dennis Felton Copyright 2007 by Christopher Byrne. All Rights reserved.

Player photographs courtesy of the University of Georgia Athletic Association Sports Communications Department.