Jerry Tarkanian

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Jerry Tarkanian (born August 8, 1930), also known as "Tark the Shark", is an American former college basketball coach known for colorful behavior, including habitually chewing on a towel during games, and for his public criticisms of and clashes with the NCAA. He was head coach at three different Division I schools, each of which was subsequently penalized by the NCAA.

With a 990-228 career coaching record (81.3%) across all college divisions, Tarkanian currently has more collegiate wins than almost any men's coach in history (Gene Bess has over 1000 wins at the community college level). He is also one of few college coaches to lead three different schools to 20-win seasons. He accomplished this task at each school in his first year. However, he has not been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame due primarily to the NCAA penalties.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Tarkanian, the son of Armenian immigrants, was born in Euclid, Ohio, United States, and attended Pasadena City College in California. He later transferred to Fresno State where he played basketball for the Bulldogs in 1954 and 1955. He graduated in 1955. Later, he earned a master's degree in educational management from the University of Redlands.

[edit] Early coaching career

He began coaching high school basketball in California in 1956, and moved to college ball at Riverside City College from 1961-66 and Pasadena City College from 1966-68. His teams won three California junior college championships.

[edit] Division I and NCAA controversies

Tarkanian moved to Division I basketball as coach at Long Beach State from 1968-1973, and became famous at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, coaching the Runnin' Rebels from 1973-1992 where his teams were known for remarkable defense, including the amoeba defense and an up-tempo style. He took his UNLV teams to four Division I Final Fours. In the first, in 1977, the Rebels lost to North Carolina in the semifinals. Ten years later, UNLV lost to Bob Knight's eventual national champion Indiana Hoosiers. Finally, in the 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Tarkanian led UNLV to the championship, prevailing 103-73 against Duke while setting a record for margin of victory in a championship game. The following year Coach Tarkanian's undefeated Rebels met Duke again in the semifinals and lost 79-77.

There had been numerous NCAA accusations against Tarkanian and the UNLV program, which he denied and claimed were motivated by his public criticism of the NCAA. Though the accusations were never substantiated-and despite numerous glaring inconsistencies, claims of violations based solely on hearsay, and refusal of the NCAA to afford the coach due process rights-they resulted in substantial sanctions on the UNLV basketball team, which led to clashes with new UNLV president Robert Maxson. Tarkanian was eventually forced to resign.

[edit] NBA and return to college

Tarkanian coached the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA briefly in 1992, but was fired after only 20 games with a 9-11 record. He received a $1.3 million settlement, which he used to fund a lawsuit against the NCAA. Although the NCAA did not admit harassing Tarkanian, they settled out of court paying him $2.5 million in 1998.

He returned to college coaching at alma mater Fresno State from 1995-2002 and led them to six consecutive 20 win seasons. He retired from coaching in 2002 with 778 career Division I wins. Following his retirement, Fresno State was placed on probation by the NCAA for violations committed by its men's basketball team under Tarkanian's watch.

[edit] Other biographical details

His colorful autobiography, "Runnin' Rebel: Shark Tales of "Extra Benefits", Frank Sinatra and Winning it All" was released in October 2005 and was a major national seller.

Jerry Tarkanian is married to Las Vegas city councilwoman Lois Tarkanian. They have four children and ten grandchildren. One of their sons, Danny Tarkanian, was an All-American college basketball player while playing for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV; he won the Republican Party's nomination for secretary of state during the Nevada primary on August 15, 2006 but lost in the general election.

Tarkanian is a good friend of college basketball coach Bob Knight. Tarkanian and Knight matched wits in the national semifinals of the 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament in New Orleans, with Knight's Indiana Hoosiers defeating UNLV 97-93.

He also started a basketball school in Las Vegas, named The Tarkanian Basketball Academy.

[edit] External links

• Retrospective