RIP
Tarkanian took UNLV to four Final Fours and won the 1990 national championship utilizing players contemporaries such as Dean Smith or Bob Knight never would have recruited. He gave second chances to talented prospects with rap sheets or checkered academic histories and taught them a high-scoring, action-packed style of play characterized by a stifling full-court press that fueled most of the offense.
UNLV's rapid ascent made Las Vegas synonymous with something other than gambling and prostitutes and turned Tarkanian into a towel-chomping icon, but it also attracted scrutiny from NCAA investigators.
Tarkanian fought the perception he ran an outlaw program throughout his 31 seasons as a Division I coach, refuting allegations of grade fixing, point shaving and impermissible gifts for recruits and accusing the NCAA of undue harassment.
Tarkanian took UNLV to four Final Fours and won the 1990 national championship utilizing players contemporaries such as Dean Smith or Bob Knight never would have recruited. He gave second chances to talented prospects with rap sheets or checkered academic histories and taught them a high-scoring, action-packed style of play characterized by a stifling full-court press that fueled most of the offense.
UNLV's rapid ascent made Las Vegas synonymous with something other than gambling and prostitutes and turned Tarkanian into a towel-chomping icon, but it also attracted scrutiny from NCAA investigators.
Tarkanian fought the perception he ran an outlaw program throughout his 31 seasons as a Division I coach, refuting allegations of grade fixing, point shaving and impermissible gifts for recruits and accusing the NCAA of undue harassment.
