Blame and punishment unequal

If the allegations that we have heard involving the University of Georgia basketball program are true, firing assistant Coach Jim Harrick Jr. was the right thing to do. As the head coach of the basketball team, it is the responsibility of his father, Jim Harrick Sr., to know what is going on with his players, and his suspension was also justified.

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It is also the responsibility of the athletic director to know what is happening involving all of the athletic teams. It is not the athletic director's responsibility to oversee the daily practices, team meetings, etc., but it is certainly his responsibility to know if any university policies or academic rules are being violated and, in this case, he should also be suspended.

Likewise, it is the responsibility of the university president to be aware of what's going on through communication with the athletic director and the academic counselors. He should be suspended if he knew what was happening and took no action or - even worse - if he was unaware of what was happening in this case...

To punish the other 12 members of the team by not allowing them to compete in the SEC tournament or the NCAA tournament, which they worked so hard to gain entry into, was not the right thing to do. There are certainly other assistant basketball coaches who could have coached the team in these tournaments.

Win or lose, we would have been proud of the team and applauded their accomplishments this season.

Jack Liebowitz, Augusta