Dick Tarrant

Richard Joseph Tarrant Jr. (born September 15, 1928) was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Richmond from 1981 through 1993. Tarrant, led the Spiders to five NCAA tournament and four NIT berths in his twelve seasons as head coach—the first postseason appearances in school history.

Tarrant was raised in Montclair, New Jersey, and played basketball at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, New Jersey, before transferring to Immaculate Conception High School in his hometown for his final two years in order to shorten his commute, graduating in 1946. He played collegiately for the Fordham Rams men's basketball team, where Vince Lombardi was one of the assistant coaches on his freshman team. An erroneous claim was widely published purporting that he had played for Lombardi at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey, which was later included in his collegiate coaching biography.

Under Tarrant, the Spiders gained a reputation as giant killers. In their first NCAA appearance, in 1984, they upended an Auburn team led by Charles Barkley in the first round. In 1988, they defeated defending national champion Indiana and Georgia Tech to advance to the Sweet Sixteen—the deepest run by a Colonial Athletic Association team at the time—before losing to Temple. In 1991, Tarrant led the 15th seed Spiders to an upset win over second-seeded Syracuse—the first time that a 15th seed had made it out of the first round.

In 2013, Tarrant was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. In 2015, Richmond named the playing surface at the Robins Center "Dick Tarrant Court" in Tarrant's honor. He left Richmond as the winningest coach in school history, though he has since been passed by Chris Mooney.

Head coaching record