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Coach Comes to Fresno.
“Boys, look over there. It’s Coach!” said my mom. “Matthew, Mark. Go introduce yourselves.”
Just the evening before the headlining story on KMPH Fox 26 news was that a new coach was in town for the Fresno State Bulldogs. Growing up in the mid-90s in “The Best Little City in the U.S.A.”, the mention of our town or our beloved Bulldogs rarely happened outside of the San Joaquin Valley, but that all changed with the return of Jerry Tarkanian to Fresno in 1995.
I grew up a Bulldog in many ways that few can relate to. Born to two business professors at Fresno State, some of my earliest memories come from playing in the offices of my parents or the “hand-off” between my parents as one would finish teaching and the other would begin. My godparents taught at Fresno State, my brother’s godparents too, and all of our closest family friends all had ties to the school in one way or another.
Social gatherings often centered around Fresno State athletics. More than just cheering for the home team or the school you taught at, with the field of study that my parents and their friends taught, classes were filled with student-athletes including many players on the basketball roster.
“Excuse me, sir. Are you ‘Tark the Shark’?” asked my younger brother, Mark.
“Why, yes! YES, I AM,” said Coach Jerry Tarkanian with a smile that stretched across his face. “And what are both of your names?” He insisted to know.
Lucky for us, we both had some Fresno State fanny packs which he offered to sign for us. In addition, he had a special surprise for both my brother and me when he handed us a special edition “Tark Towel” that was left over from a corporate banquet held the night before sponsored by a local credit union.
Before we go further into what was to come for the city of Fresno and Bulldog fans, let us look back at the years leading up to Coach Tarkanian’s return to Fresno in 1995 – his second chance after being forced out of college hoops.
Started in Fresno.
Jerry Tarkanian played for two seasons in 1954 and 1955 at Fresno State College. Following his time as a Bulldog, Jerry remained in Fresno where he was a fill-in coach at my high school alma mater of Edison High School (a school that at one time was segregated) in West Fresno. He helped lead the Edison Tigers to a section finals followed by two years coaching at San Joaquin Memorial. It was in the Fresno heat and the poorly ventilated gym at Memorial that he started the habit of sucking and chewing on towels.
Junior College Dominance & Rewriting Unwritten Rules.
Tarkanian arrived to the Junior College game in 1961 and quickly made a name for himself. He coached Riverside College in three consecutive California Junior College State Championships from 1964-66. The following season he would coach Pasadena College to a title making it four in a row for Tarkanian.
In 1968, Tarkanian was hired by Long Beach State where he was wildly successful with the 49ers. In five years, the team went 122-20, never lost a home game, and made four NCAA Tournament appearances. He would almost reach his first Final Four in 1971 but was stopped short by John Wooden and the UCLA Bruins losing 57-55 in the Elite Eight.
Beyond the wins, Jerry Tarkanian disregarded the unwritten racial rules of college basketball. He was among the first college coaches to have more black players than white for a starting five. In addition to this, Jerry took a new approach to discover talent for his teams by going to the playgrounds of Los Angeles and other California towns as well as recruiting many miles away in the midwest – something completely foreign to the level of school he was coaching.
Where Jerry changed the game and rewrote the rules of college basketball is that he pioneered the recruiting of community college and junior college players who were either over-looked or shunned by the established four-year universities.
1990 NCAA Champions
The Run in the Desert.
When Jerry Tarkanian came to Las Vegas in 1973, he brought with him a new style of gameplay that would quickly make UNLV basketball the hottest ticket in town. A fast-paced offense in the era with no shot-clock and a confusingly changing “amoeba” defense, Tarkanian had a special formula for winning that attracted top talent to a small school in the middle of the Nevada desert.
Only 4 years after coming to UNLV and only 7 years after the program moved up to Division I, Tarkanian not only brought the Runnin’ Rebels to the big stage of the NCAA Tournament but lead them all the way to the Final Four – the first of four.
The highlighting moment of his coaching career came when he assembled one of college basketball’s greatest teams in history for the 1989-90 season. The UNLV Runnin Rebels would run all the way through the regular season, conference tournament, and to the NCAA title game where they toppled Duke 103-73 to finish the perfect season as the best in the land of college hoops. The following season, the Rebels made a historic undefeated run going for a back-to-back NCAA title but fell short when Coach K and Duke avenged the prior season’s loss in the NCAA Tournament Final.
Despite all the opportunities and second chances, Tarkanian provided for players, controversy and off-court problems seemed to always be around. Ten different players on Tarkanian’s championship team were suspended at some point during their college careers. The nail in the coffin came when the Las Vegas Review-Journal published on the front page a photo of three UNLV players in a hot tub with a convicted game fixer. The following week, Coach Jerry Tarkanian resigned.
The Swagger of Tarkanian & His Teams.
What is often overlooked by many in the sports world is just how much of a visionary Jerry Tarkanian was in the game of college basketball. Even members of the famed Fab 5 have shown their respects to Jerry and UNLV as being the original college team to have swagger.
Jalen Rose was recruited by Tarkanian and UNLV. In an interview with ESPN he recalls, “Everything he did was unorthodox,” said Rose. “We were considered rough-and-tumble at Michigan, but it started with UNLV.”
“And they had the fresh gear, the Nike contract, with multiple uniforms and shooting shirts and different pairs of shoes,” said Rose. “So often, the programs are about the head coach. But Tark was someone who sacrificed a lot for the college athletes. He allowed them to have their personality and flavor. He took chances on kids that others wouldn’t. He took players and turned them into better men.”
Be True To Your School (1985 ad)
In 1985 with the introduction of the Nike Dunk, Nike selected just a handful of programs to represent pride in the college sports world. Big and legacy programs were part of the campaign including Kentucky and Georgetown, but along with the big boys came the rebel – UNLV.
Nike was already on a roll with defying the status quo in the game of basketball on the professional level paying for Michael Jordan’s banned Black/Red Nike Air Ships in 1984 and just months later celebrating college hoops with a league of extraordinary excellence including the most controversial program in the game.
UNLV saw lots of love over the years from Nike Basketball where the program received the latest and greatest sneakers ahead of the public and the competition.
When Tarkanian made the move to Fresno, the attention of brands came along with the move. There was no official outfitter for the Fresno State Bulldogs men’s basketball team prior to Tark’s arrival, but following the 1995-96 season where the Bulldogs were the “first out out” of the NCAA tournament, Adidas had their eyes on the Bulldog’s feet. For several years, the Bulldogs exclusively wore Adidas Basketball’s latest and greatest signatures – in Bulldog colors too. The hottest find for many was team edition KB8s, Real Deals, and other great Feet You Wear kicks.
Lasting Impact.
If there is something to remember Jerry Tarkanian for, it is the importance of using your position and power to extend an opportunity to another one who needs the help. Sure, Jerry saw his name associated more times than he probably would have liked with controversy. Be it with point-shaving allegations, players accused of domestic violence, or improper gifts, Tark had a way to win that was bigger than who had the most points at the sound of the final buzzer. Sadly, the final buzzer sounded this morning for Jerry Tarkanian as he passed away at the age of 84.
Jerry Tarkanian had an eye for talent and a heart for opportunity. His 784 wins make him one of the winningest coaches of all time, but the opportunities he provided for kids in need of a second chance will make him one of the greatest coaches of all time.
Rest In Peace.
