Shark Left

(Mad props to Joe Wright)

 

Or

Runnin’ Rebel without a Pulse

Towels everywhere breathe a sigh of relief as Jerry Tarkanian, scourge of the NCAA, has died at the age of 84. Nearly as brilliant as Dean Smith on the court and virtually his opposite off it, Tarkanian built a program out of nothing in the desert, turning UNLV into a high-scoring, fiercely defending powerhouse that made 4 Final Fours and won the 1990 National Championship (and America’s hearts) by routing Duke in the Final. He won more than 700 games in the NCAA, of which about 37 of them remain after NCAA sanctions. He did so by recruiting (frequently improperly) players of dubious academic prowess and moral certitude, largely junior college players that major programs disdained. He had Frank Sinatra stop by the house of a potential recruit with an Italian mother. He drove a recruit to his girlfriend’s house and waited in the car while the young ‘uns worked on their ball-handling drills. Three of his players were photographed in a hot tub with a convicted sports fixer. Lloyd Daniels was recruited, then abandoned after a cocaine conviction. Tarkanian recruited Clifford Allen from behind the glass at the El Paso de Robles Youth Correctional Facility, and was repaid when Allen stole a car and was returned to incarceration, never playing a minute of college basketball. Challenging any of his players to Scrabble would have been an exercise in futility. Whereas Smith was proud of the graduation rate for his players, Tarkanian noted that most of his players found lucrative employment in Las Vegas’ hospitality industry. Such shenanigans left him at constant odds with the NCAA, and all 3 of the college programs he led – Long Beach State, Fresno State and the aforementioned Slots U – were put on probation by the powers that be. Even the pre-David Robinson San Antonio Spurs, where Tarkanian spent a 20-game sabbatical in 1992, were prohibited from tournament play. Whereas for most people the NCAA’s hypocrisy and capriciousness is like the weather – everyone talks about it, but no one does anything - Tarkanian twice sued the NCAA for violating his right to due process, taking one case to the U.S. Supreme Court and losing, but winning a $2.5 million settlement in the other, all the while firing off observations such as:  

"I always like to get transfers, especially from the Pac-10. They already have their cars paid for."

"Nine out of 10 schools are cheating. The other one is in last place."

"The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky it's going to give Cleveland State two more years probation."