Jerry Tarkanian

Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, leading them four times to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, winning the national championship in 1990. Tarkanian revolutionized the college game at UNLV, utilizing a pressing defense to fuel its fast-paced offense. Overall, he won over 700 games in his college coaching career, only twice failing to win 20 games, while never having a losing season. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Tarkanian studied at Pasadena City College and later Fresno State, earning a bachelor's degree while playing basketball. He was a head coach at the high school level before becoming a successful junior college coach at Riverside City College winning three state championships, and returned to Pasadena City College and led them to a state championship. In 1968, he moved to a four-year college at Long Beach State College. Tarkanian established a successful program built on former junior college players, who were typically considered second-rate by other four-year programs. He was also the rare coach who dared to start a predominantly black lineup. He compiled a 122–20 record over five years at Long Beach before moving to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He transformed the small program into a national powerhouse while granting his players the freedom to express themselves. Known for his colorful behavior and affectionately referred to as "Tark the Shark", Tarkanian became a celebrity in Las Vegas. He left the Runnin' Rebels for a brief stint coaching professionally with the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before finishing his career at his alma mater, Fresno State.

Throughout his career, he battled accusations of rules violations from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with each of his three universities suffering penalties. Tarkanian responded by challenging the organization to also investigate larger and more powerful universities. Tarkanian's maternal grandfather, Mickael Effendi Tarkanian , was an Ottoman government official from Malatya who was beheaded by Turkish authorities. Mickael's son was also decapitated by the same authorities. By this time, Jerry showed his interest in sports, but his stepfather disapproved of his involvement with sports, while his mother encouraged him to pursue it. His family later moved to California. A graduate of Pasadena High School, he initially attended Pasadena City College in California and played basketball at the college in the 1950–51 season. Tarkanian then transferred to Fresno State College, where he played basketball for the Bulldogs in the 1954–55 season as a backup guard. After graduating from Fresno State College in 1955,

Early coaching career He began his coaching career with five years of California high school basketball, starting with San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. He then moved to Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster (1958) and Redlands High School (1959–1960). When the 49ers made the 1970 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament led by All-America Ed Ratleff, Tarkanian boasted that his team consisted almost entirely of junior college transfers. Long Beach State reached four straight NCAA tournaments, and established itself as a regional power. John Wooden of UCLA refused to schedule a regular season game with them. At the peak of Wooden's dynasty, the schools met in the 1971 West Regional final. Long Beach led at the half by 12, but UCLA prevailed 57–55 en route to their fifth straight national championship.

Perry's involvement triggered yet another NCAA investigation, which resulted in the NCAA initially banning the Rebels from the 1991 NCAA Tournament, only months after they won the 1990 title. However, the NCAA later agreed to a compromise which deferred the sanctions until 1992, allowing UNLV to defend its title. Months after UNLV's 1991 semifinal 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 that he had warned his players to stay away from Perry. On June 7, 1991, Tarkanian announced he would resign after coaching one more season. Already banned from any postseason play, Tarkanian guided the 1991–92 team to a 26–2 season. He won his final game 65–53 over Utah State.

Tarkanian and the NCAA Tarkanian spent most of his career as a Division I coach in a battle with the NCAA. While at Long Beach, he wrote a newspaper column charging that the NCAA ignored improprieties at powerful schools while it pursued smaller, more defenseless institutions. After he left Long Beach State, its basketball program was slapped with probation for recruiting violations which occurred under his watch.

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.

NCAA executive director Walter Byers famously disliked Tarkanian, and said "Tark's black players play a fast city-lot basketball without much style. Grab ball and run like hell, not lots of passing to set up the shots." Byers described UNLV's style as "ghetto run-and-shoot basketball" with little concern for defense. ESPN wrote that Tarkanian "helped revolutionize the way the college game was played". Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown said he "influenced a lot of coaches", and coach Mike Krzyzewski added that he "taught pressure man-to-man defense as well as anyone has ever done." Tarkanian recruited players that his peers often passed over, taking chances on junior college students or those with a troubled past. According to Fab Five member Jalen Rose, "We were considered rough-and-tumble at Michigan, but it started with UNLV." With no professional teams then playing in the city, the Rebels became the town's center of attention,

Tarkanian also has a middle school located in Southern Highlands, NV named after him and his wife Lois.

Personal life He had small roles in the 1979 film, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh as the LA Team Coach, in the 1992 film, Honeymoon in Vegas as a poker player, and in the 1994 film, Blue Chips as a basketball 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 and has since run several political campaigns in Nevada.

Tarkanian was a good friend of college basketball coach Bob Knight. Tarkanian and Knight matched wits in the national semifinals of the 1987 NCAA Division I men's 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 for three years (2009–2012).

On February 11, 2015, Tarkanian died at the age of 84 at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he had been hospitalized days earlier after having difficulty breathing. In a tribute to him, the city of Las Vegas lowered its flags at City Hall to half-staff on that day.

Tarkanian was portrayed by Rory Cochrane in the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

Head coaching record

College

Note: The record of 784–202 includes six 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 .

NBA

Publications