re: Harrick Scandal in hindsight

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Nothing about *how* UGA handled the situation did anything to meaningfully impact the results. It was comical/humorous, and the easy target of a joke, but at the end of the day, it was going to get forgotten pretty quickly because it wasn't pervasive as in the case of UNC.

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If UGA had attempted to fight the charges, the jokes still would have happened, and people would have more ammo to say that UGA cared more about athletic success than academic achievement. That's a reputation SEC schools have been fighting for a long time. At that time, an student athlete academic scandal wouldn't change your average person's opinion on UGA as a school. Locally it might, but not nationally. The jokes were told, UGA took its medicine, and everyone moved on.

There previously wasn't any such ammo against UNC. There is now. They fought the case on the basis that their school lacked integrity to an extent that permeated the entire institution. Most people who are more serious about school than sports will judge them for that, I would think. It will be a black mark on their reputation for a long time.