Kennedy assistant finally gets chance
By Jamie Smith
Assistant Sports Editor

     Larry Harrison has watched his bosses pace up and down the coaching box long enough. Now it's his turn to run the show.

     Harrison was introduced Thursday as the new head coach of the University of Hartford men's basketball team. After 18 years as an assistant at several high schools and colleges, Harrison is ready to have his own program.

     "I am very grateful to the University of Hartford for giving me the opportunity to begin my head coaching career,” Harrison said. “It’s a chance for me to go back home.”

     In three years, Harrison helped to acquire the Demons’ most significant recruit of the decade, Quentin Richardson. Harrison is an old pro at bringing stars to his employers. Kenyon Martin, the one-man destruction show of March 2, was also a Harrison recruit during the eight years he was an assistant at the University of Cincinnati.

     “It’s kind of sad to leave after all of the effort we put into the program,” Harrison said.  “One of the things we stated as a goal was to re-establish DePaul’s tradition and pride, it’s presence in the city, state and country.”

     Over the past five years, two of Harrison’s recruiting classes have been ranked No. 1 in the nation. His 1996 recruiting class at Cincinnati gained top honors along with his ‘98 class at DePaul. It was this class that will be remembered as the jump-start DePaul’s basketball program needed, and Harrison made it possible.

     Harrison’s latest addition to the DePaul team was George Baker who was a freshman during 1999-2000 season. There is no doubt Harrison and his recruiting abilities will be missed—it was one of his many assets that landed him the job at Hartford.

     “We are very excited to be adding Larry to our staff,” Hartford director of athletics Pat Meiser-McKnett said.  “He is one of the best recruiters in the nation and he has a history of winning at the highest level.”

     Harrison is accustomed to being around successful programs.  In the past 10 seasons, his teams have gone to seven NCAA Tournaments and three NITs. Harrison hopes to continue his tradition of success at Hartford.

     “My goal is to be competitive in [the] America East [conference] and to build a program capable of reaching the NCAA Tournament,” Harrison said.

     DePaul point guard Rashon Burno said Harrison was an important part of the players’ lives. 

     “We’re going to miss him a lot,” Burno said. “He’s one of the main reasons we got to the postseason. He was our defensive coach and he was in charge of the big guys.

     “I’m going to miss him even more as a friend.. But we’re happy for him, he was due.”

     Sources say DePaul already has two candidates to replace Harrison.  Westinghouse High School head coach Chris Head has been mentioned and promoting Brian Kennedy is also an option.  Head’s team was the runner up in the Illinois State championship in this year’s season. Kennedy has been with DePaul as an assistant for three seasons.

     Harrison said it was too early to determine what Kennedy would do to fill the void, and Kennedy was unavailable for comment.