Feb. 24, 2000 10:53 AM AP

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) Former University of Rhode Island assistant basketball coach Jim Harrick Jr. is under investigation by the state police after the school said it had evidence he defrauded it of at least $900.

Auditors from the Office of Higher Education suspect Harrick collected receipts when he dined out, parked and bought gas in Rhode Island, then submitted them for reimbursement as expenses from trips he took with the team, The Providence Journal reported.

William Holland, state commissioner of higher education, notified state police of the allegations and the criminal inquiry began Wednesday.

"This number may increase after final tabulation for the period in question," Holland said in a memo he sent to the Board of Governors of Higher Education.

Harrick, 35, son of former URI head coach Jim Harrick, is now an assistant at Loyola University-Chicago. He was traveling with the Loyola team and could not be reached for comment, according to a recorded statement the athletic department spokesman left on his office voice mail today.

Glenn Harrick, who lives in Warwick, told the Journal his brother Jim Jr. had "been in touch" with URI about the expenses and that there was a disagreement over who should pay.

"I believe that they weren't personal charges; they were legitimate business charges," Glenn Harrick said.

URI had a rocky relationship with the Harricks. The elder Harrick became head coach in 1997 after UCLA fired him, partly for falsifying an expense report. Then, he infuriated many in Rhode Island by moving to Georgia last April.

Reached today at his office in Athens, Ga., the elder Harrick said he was not responsible for reviewing his staff's expense reimbursement requests, which were submitted directly to URI's athletic director.

He said he had not heard about the investigation into his son's expense claims and had no comment.

"That's something I just don't talk about," the elder Harrick Sr. said.

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