Jerry Tarkanian Biography

Fast Facts

• In all of his 38 seasons as a coach, he never had a losing season record and retired with 988-228 overall
• Was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013
• Graduated from Fresno State University, where he was a practice player for the school's basketball team, in 1955
• Started out as a high school basketball coach at high schools in Fresno and Lancaster, Calif
• Had a decades-long feud with the NCAA that began in the early 1970s, when he was a coach at Long Beach State and wrote several critical articles for the local newspaper about the NCAA targeting small schools
• Best known as a college basketball coach, spending the majority of his career with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels
• Was nicknamed "Tark the Shark" and could often be seen chewing on a wet towel from his courtside seat at nerve-wracking games