Jerry Tarkanian

Jerry Tarkanian

Biographical details
Born	(1930-08-08)August 8, 1930 Euclid, Ohio
Died	February 11, 2015(2015-02-11) (aged 84) Las Vegas, Nevada
Head coaching record
Overall	706–198
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship: (1990) Regional Championships – Final Four (1977, 1987, 1990, 1991)
Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2013

Jerry Esther Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was a basketball coach known as one of the most successful college basketball coaches in history. He is also well known for his colorful behavior, and for his public criticisms of and clashes with the NCAA. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Tarkanian (popularly known as "Tark the Shark") coached at Long Beach State, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and Fresno State University in his college career. He also coached the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association for twenty games during the 1992-93 NBA season.

With a 729–201 career coaching record (78.4%) across all college divisions, Tarkanian is in the top 21 for collegiate wins among all men's coaches. Only four other coaches have a higher winning percentage. He is also one of few college coaches to lead three different schools to 20-win seasons. He accomplished a 20-win season at each school in his first year. Tarkanian's first twelve teams won twenty or more games, setting a record that was not broken until 2013 when Thad Matta, who has coached at Butler University, Xavier University, and Ohio State University, recorded his thirteenth consecutive 20-plus win season (a streak that is still active).

After his first season of winning less than twenty games, Tarkanian did not have another season winning less than twenty until his final year at Fresno State in 2001–02 when his team won nineteen games. He recorded a total of twenty-nine seasons with twenty or more wins, with four of those seeing the Rebels win 30 or more, including a then-NCAA record 37 in 1987 and 34 in 1991. The 1990–91 UNLV team was the last to end the regular season undefeated until Wichita State finished the season undefeated in 2014.

Biography

Early life

Tarkanian, the son of Armenian immigrants, was born in Euclid, Ohio. His mother, Rose, was a refugee of the Armenian Genocide during World War I. His father died when he was 13. Although his stepfather disapproved of his interest in sports, his mother encouraged him to pursue them. He initially attended Pasadena City College in California, later transferring 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.

Early coaching career

He began coaching high school basketball in California in 1956. From 1959–1960 he coached at Antelope Valley Joint Union High School, in Lancaster California. In 1961 he coached at Redlands High School in Redlands, California. He then moved on to college ball at Riverside City College from 1961–1966 and Pasadena City College from 1966–68. He coached teams to four straight California junior college championships—three at Riverside, one at Pasadena.

Long Beach State and UNLV

Tarkanian moved to Division I basketball as coach at Long Beach State from 1968–1973, where "the Shark" was among the first coaches to use more than 3 black starters, violating an unwritten rule at the time, and pioneered the use of Junior College athletes. Long Beach State soon became a regional power, and was avoided by UCLA and John Wooden, who wouldn't schedule them. Long Beach lost to UCLA by 2 points in the 1971 West Regional Final.

Tarkanian achieved much success at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, coaching the Runnin' Rebels from 1973–1992. In fact, it was Tarkanian's idea to call the team the "Runnin' Rebels." His teams were known for an up-tempo style, stifling defense, and going on long runs that turned close games into blowouts.

He took his UNLV teams to four Final Fours. In the first, in 1977 (only seven years after the program joined Division I), the Rebels lost to North Carolina in the semifinals. Ten years later, UNLV was defeated by Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers, the eventual national champion. 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 Tarkanian's undefeated Rebels met Duke again in the semifinals and lost 79–77.

Tarkanian had been under more or less constant scrutiny from the NCAA for most of his career (see below), but managed to weather the pressure until he signed Lloyd Daniels, a talented but troubled shooting guard from New York City. In 1987—just months before he was due to come to campus—Daniels was caught buying crack cocaine from an undercover policeman. While Tarkanian had been known for taking in troubled players, this was too much even for him, and he announced shortly afterward that Daniels would never play for UNLV. Not long after Daniels' arrest, it emerged he'd been led to UNLV by Richard Perry, a prominent gambler who had been convicted twice for sports bribery.

Perry's involvement triggered yet another NCAA investigation, which ultimately resulted in the NCAA banning the Rebels from the 1991 NCAA Tournament only months after they won the title. However, the NCAA later agreed to a compromise which allowed UNLV to defend its title, but would see the Rebels banned from the 1992 tourney. Only a few months after UNLV's 1991 loss to Duke, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published a picture showing three of Tarkanian's players in a hot tub with Perry. The picture had been taken in 1989, only months after Tarkanian claimed he'd warned his players to stay away from Perry. School president Robert Maxson had seen enough, and forced Tarkanian to announce he would resign at the end of the 1991–92 season.

NBA and return to college

Tarkanian was offered the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job in 1977, but declined, continuing to coach college basketball. Tarkanian was signed to coach the San Antonio Spurs in 1992, not long after leaving UNLV. However, he disagreed with Spurs owner Red McCombs over the need for experience at point guard. The Spurs had lost Rod Strickland to free agency in the offseason (he signed with Portland), leaving the Spurs without a point guard with significant NBA experience. The Spurs had signed Vinny Del Negro, a combo-guard from the Italian League, to replace Strickland. They also signed NBA journeyman Avery Johnson, formerly of the Houston Rockets, to a one-year contract. Tarkanian felt that the Spurs wouldn't be competitive without an experienced point guard, but McCombs disagreed. As a result, Tarkanian 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.

Fresno State

He returned to college coaching at alma mater Fresno State from 1995–2002 and led them to six consecutive 20-win seasons. Tarkanian led the Bulldogs to five NIT tournaments and two NCAA appearances. 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.

Tarkanian and the NCAA

Tarkanian spent most of his career as a Division I coach in a battle with the NCAA. After he left Long Beach State, its basketball program was slapped with probation for recruiting violations which occurred under his watch.

Just months before the 1976–77 season, the NCAA placed UNLV on two years' probation for "questionable practices." Although the alleged violations dated back to 1971—before Tarkanian became coach—the NCAA pressured UNLV into suspending Tarkanian as coach for two years. Tarkanian sued, claiming the suspension violated his right to due process. In September 1977, a Nevada judge issued an injunction which reinstated Tarkanian as coach. The case eventually made it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled in 1988 that the NCAA had the right to discipline its member schools, reversing the 1977 injunction.

In the decade between the original suspension and the Supreme Court ruling, it was revealed that the NCAA's enforcement process was stacked heavily in the NCAA's favor—so heavily, in fact, that it created a perception that there was no due process. The enforcement staff was allowed to build cases on hearsay, and shared few of their findings with the targeted school. The resulting negative publicity led the NCAA to institute a clearer separation between the enforcement staff and the infractions committee, as well as a system for appeals. Also, hearsay evidence was no longer admissible in infractions cases.

After being fired from the Spurs, Tarkanian sued the NCAA, claiming it had harassed him for over two decades. The harassment, Tarkanian claimed, started when he wrote a newspaper column alleging that the NCAA was more willing to punish less-prominent schools than big-name schools. Although the NCAA did not admit harassing Tarkanian, it settled out of court in 1998, paying him $2.5 million.

Other biographical details

His 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.

He also had a small role in the 1979 movie, "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh" as the LA Team Coach.

Jerry Tarkanian was married to Las Vegas city councilwoman Lois Tarkanian. They had four children and ten grandchildren. One of their sons, Danny Tarkanian, was an All-American Honorable Mention college basketball player while playing for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV. He won the Republican nomination for Nevada secretary of state in the 2006 primary but lost in the general election. In 2010, he mounted an unsuccessful Republican primary campaign for the United States Senate seat held by Harry Reid.

Tarkanian was 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.

His granddaughter Dannielle Diamant played for Northwestern University women's basketball team.

On February 11, 2015, Tarkanian died at the age of 84 in Las Vegas, where he had been hospitalized days earlier after difficulty breathing.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Long Beach State (Independent/Big West Conference) (1968–1973)
1968–69	Long Beach State	23–3
1969–70	Long Beach State	23–5	10–0	1st	NCAA West Regional 4th Place
1970–71	Long Beach State	24–5	10–0	1st	NCAA West Elite Eight
1971–72	Long Beach State	25–4	10–2	1st	NCAA West Elite Eight
1972–73	Long Beach State	26–3	10–2	1st	NCAA Regional 3rd Place
Long Beach State:		122–20	40–4
UNLV (WCAC) (1973–1975)
1973–74	UNLV	20–6	10–4	3rd
1974–75	UNLV	24–5	13–1	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
UNLV:		44–11	23–5
UNLV Runnin' Rebels (Independent) (1975–1982)
1975–76	UNLV	29–2			NCAA 2nd Round
1976–77	UNLV	29–3			NCAA Final Four
1977–78	UNLV	20–8
1978–79	UNLV	21–8
1979–80	UNLV	23–9			NIT Semifinals
1980–81	UNLV	16–12
1981–82	UNLV	20–10			NIT 2nd Round
UNLV:		158–52
UNLV Runnin' Rebels (Big West) (1982–1992)
1982–83	UNLV	28–3	15–1	1st	NCAA 1st Round
1983–84	UNLV	29–6	16–2	1st	NCAA Sweet 16
1984–85	UNLV	28–4	17–1	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
1985–86	UNLV	33–5	16–2	1st	NCAA Sweet 16
1986–87	UNLV	37–2	18–0	1st	NCAA Final Four
1987–88	UNLV	28–6	15–3	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
1988–89	UNLV	29–8	16–2	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1989–90	UNLV	35–5	16–2	T–1st	NCAA Champion
1990–91	UNLV	34–1	18–0	1st	NCAA Final Four
1991–92	UNLV	26–2	18–0	1st
UNLV:		307–42	165–12
UNLV:		509–105	204–19
Fresno State (WAC) (1995–2002)
1995–96	Fresno State	22–11	13–5	3rd	NIT Quarterfinals
1996–97	Fresno State	20–12	12–4	T–1st (Pacific)	NIT 1st Round
1997–98	Fresno State	21–13	10–4	2nd (Pacific)	NIT Semifinals
1998–99	Fresno State	21–12	9–5	T–2nd (Pacific)	NIT 1st Round
1999–00	Fresno State	24–10	11–3	2nd	NCAA 1st Round
2000–01	Fresno State	26–7	13–3	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
2001–02	Fresno State	19–15	9–9	T–5th	NIT 1st Round
Fresno State:		153–80	77–33
Total:		784–202
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Note: The record of 784–202 includes 6 NCAA tournament games vacated by the NCAA while at Long Beach State and 49 games vacated while at Fresno State. Excluding these games, the record would be 729–201.

See also

• List of college men's basketball coaches with 600 wins
• List of NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by coach