Cole on Georgia scandal: 'I didn't do anything'
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Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Tony Cole doesn't feel sorry his allegations have led to the suspension of his former head coach, Jim Harrick, and the firing of Harrick's son, who was an assistant.
"I don't feel anything either way about the situations with the Harricks," Cole said in an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
"(Initially) Jim Harrick Jr. was suspended with pay. And Coach Harrick, if he is fired, he'll receive the million dollars or so left on his contract. But look what they did to me."
Cole made his first public comments since Georgia suspended Jim Harrick, fired his son, and pulled out of the SEC or NCAA tournaments. A university investigation is continuing.
"I have a life to live, too," Cole said. "If I had not pursued this, everybody would say, 'Harrick's not going to take any crap. You see what he did to Tony Cole.' But I wasn't going to let him walk over me. It wasn't right. I didn't do anything."
The Times-Picayune said Cole has been in seclusion in his hometown of Baton Rouge since the controversy broke out about a week ago. Attempts by The Associated Press to locate him were unsuccessful.
In January 2002, Georgia suspended Cole, starting forward Steve Thomas and football player Brandon Williams while university police investigated a report that a female student was raped in Cole's dorm room. Williams was acquitted of rape and assault charges in August. Charges against Cole and Thomas were dismissed following the acquittal. The woman later admitted having consensual sex with Cole, according to the police complaint.
Thomas and Williams were allowed back on their teams, their run-ins with the law seen as isolated incidents. Cole found out in September that he would not be allowed back.
Cole said he believed Harrick used him when he needed him, then abandoned him.
"All they had to do was let me play my last year," Cole said. "To me, they brought this on themselves. They are the ones who brought me up here, then they didn't give me any support when all of that stuff broke. They treated me like I was guilty. Right after the incident happened, (Harrick) wanted me to transfer instead of sticking by me to see what happened."
Cole's accusations against Georgia were first made in a Feb. 27 interview with ESPN, when he accused Harrick Jr., a Georgia assistant coach, of paying bills for him, giving him an "A" in a class he never attended and arranging to have schoolwork done for him. Harrick Jr. was suspended the next day, then fired less than a week later.
A university investigation confirmed academic fraud, and two players who had taken the same class Cole did were declared academically ineligible.
Cole refused to attend the course taught by Harrick Jr., saying it was senseless to go to a class in which he was assured of getting an "A."
"Why should I go to a class about basketball when I already go to practice?" said Cole, who played in 16 games as a junior.
And Cole acknowledged he was not one to attend film sessions.
"I know what I did (in games); I keep it in my head," he said. "I know what I can do. I'm not the type to go and talk to the coach. After practice, if it's beneficial to me, I'll go and talk to him. I came here to play basketball and study. I do what I need to do (academically), go to practice, and that's it."
Cole admits that he gets in his fair share of troublesome situations.
He was kicked out of the Community College of Rhode Island after he was accused of groping two female students. The women filed a lawsuit, which was later dropped.
"Trouble may follow me, but I have success wherever I go. I can't blame anyone for my situations, but my upbringing has always been in the 'hood," said Cole, who lived with various relatives and in foster homes after his mother was institutionalized with mental illness when he was 7.
"There's nothing that's going to change me. I know I'm intelligent. I'm always trying to gain knowledge, wisdom. If you ask me, I never was supposed to get this far."
End of article
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10MAN's thoughts:
I love how people that grow up in "da hood" use that like some sort of crutch that relieves them of any and all responsibility or accountability.
This is my favorite part:
"All they had to do was let me play my last year," Cole said. "To me, they brought this on themselves. They are the ones who brought me up here, then they didn't give me any support when all of that stuff broke. They treated me like I was guilty. Right after the incident happened, (Harrick) wanted me to transfer instead of sticking by me to see what happened."
1) So, if they had let you play your last year, that means that you wouldn't have blown the whistle a year later instead of now? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!!!
2) Young man, they brought you to Athens to play ball and to get an education, not to be a woman-groping, class-skipping gangsta thug. Don't be bitching about support for that!! C'mon now.
3) You're blaming the Harricks for paying your bills and for giving you "A's"? Tell me bruh, were you pissed off at them at the time they did that for you? I think not. I'm not condoning the coach or his son doing that for you, but I question your motives.
4) You say "They treated me like I was guilty." And then in the VERY NEXT SENTENCE, you say, "Right after the incident happened...." So which is it? If it "happened", doesn't that constitute guilt? Moron.
Yes, the UGA basketball program made a mistake, and I'm not saying Harrick is a Saint (let's look at his past)
but brother, if you are going to make anything out of your pathetic little life that you have now basically wasted by attaching your name to this scandal, then statements such as "I didn't do anything" won't get you very far. Stand up, be a man, and take SOME, ANY responsibility for your actions, as well. It takes two to tango, brutha Cole.
That is all, and that is just my opinion. :) I'm thru ranting now, carry on!
<!--EDIT|10MAN|Mar 14 2003, 02:58 AM-->
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It's official, Cole is a self-proclaimed thug
But for Coles to show this type of attitude..... :mad: !!!! Coles reminds me a little too much of a certain forward on the Houston Rockets who, shortly after he was picked by the expansion Vancouver Grizzlies, demanded to be traded, because he didn't want to play for an expansion team. :rolleyes:
