Commentary -- Tarkanian Deserves Spot In Cheaters Hall Of Fame

It had to have been a misprint.

Jerry Tarkanian nominated for the Basketball Hall of Fame?

Can't be.

Basketball Hall of Shame - absolutely, sure, no question.

The Hall of Fame? You've got to be kidding.

Tarkanian has the highest winning percentage of any coach in NCAA Division I history, but the only Hall of Fame he belongs in is the Cheaters Hall of Fame.

He cheated.

That's what should be placed on Tarkanian's Hall of Fame plaque, if he ever gets one.

If Tarkanian gets in, then the Hall of Fame has standards for admission even lower than those at UNLV.

Tark broke the rules. Not once, but repeatedly. Not just at one school, but at both Long Beach State and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas - which were placed on probation for numerous violations of NCAA rules during Tarkanian's tenure as coach.

Las Vegas has a high tolerance for sleaze and a low regard for the letter of the law. But, eventually, Tarkanian became an embarrassment even there - an accomplishment which rates some Hall of Fame, but not basketball's.

Here's how the NCAA describes the violations committed by Cal State-Long Beach during Tarkanian's tenure: Improper entertainment, financial aid, lodging and transportation; extra benefits; out-of-season practice; improper recruiting employment, inducements, lodging and transportation; tryouts; academic fraud; eligibility; improper administration of financial aid; unethical conduct; institutional control.

Here's how the NCAA describes the violations committed by UNLV during Tarkanian's tenure: Improper entertainment, financial aid, lodging and transportation; extra benefits, improper recruiting entertainment, inducements, lodging and transportation; tryouts; excessive number of official visits; academic fraud; eligibility; unethical conduct; questionable practice; institutional control; certification of compliance.

Sound familiar?

Sound like a Hall of Famer?

And that dirty-laundry list of violations doesn't begin to tell the story.

Consider the story of the Runnin' Rebels' recruitment of Lloyd Daniels, a fabulous player, horrendous student, and considerably less-than-solid citizen from New York City in the mid-'80s.

Daniels attended four high schools, but never graduated. He twice was thrown out of Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, once for being in a room where marijuana was being smoked and, the next year, for being a suspect in several thefts.

He wound up at Andrew Jackson High, where he was an all-city selection, averaging 31.2 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10 assists. But he dropped out of school the day after Jackson was eliminated from the playoffs.

Less than two months later, he signed a letter-of-intent with UNLV and enrolled in summer classes as a special-education student, even though he had no high-school diploma, and earned 14 credits.

Realizing Daniels couldn't qualify for full-time admission, Tarkanian arranged for him to enroll at Mount San Antonio Junior College in Walnut, Calif.

It was in that autumn of 1986 that Mark Warkentien, an assistant coach at UNLV, became Daniels' court-appointed guardian. Daniels became a full-time student at UNLV in January, 1987, but the next month was arrested for attempting to purchase crack cocaine, and he never played for the Rebels.

The NCAA investigated UNLV's recruitment of Daniels, including allegations that he received a car, a motorcycle, cash, and free housing from UNLV coaches, boosters and other representatives of the school.

The Daniels incident serves as a tawdry example of the lengths to which Tarkanian would go to recruit talented players.

As early as the summer of 1977, the NCAA's committee on infractions suggested to UNLV that its relationship with Tarkanian should be severed.

That's when Tarkanian sued the NCAA. The case dragged through the courts for 13 years before the Supreme Court finally sustained the position of the NCAA.

Tarkanian's collegiate coaching career has been an endless stream of investigations by the NCAA into payments of cash, cars and other inducements to recruit young basketball players to the university.

But it also has been an endless stream of victories.

In five seasons at Long Beach State, he compiled a record of 176-17. That was what attracted the attention of UNLV, which conveniently ignored the fact the Tarkanian's program was under investigation by the NCAA for allegations that players received money from boosters and that grades were altered to allow athletes to remain eligible.

Four years after he was hired at UNLV, the Rebels reached the Final Four for the first time, losing by a point to North Carolina in the semifinals. UNLV lost in the national semis again in 1987 to eventual champion Indiana; won the title in 1990, and reached the Final Four again the following year, going undefeated until losing to Duke in the semifinals.

Tark resigned under mounting pressure in 1991, but now is back coaching in college again, at Fresno State, where his two top recruits are Chris Herren, who had academic and discipline problems before leaving Boston College, and Terrance Roberson, who several times failed to pass the ACT and whose recent qualifying score is under investigation.

That any self-respecting university would hire Tarkanian given his record - of NCAA violations, not wins and losses - is unbelievable.

Why, the next thing you know, Tark will be getting himself elected to the Hall of Fame.

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Tarkanian's troubles.

Jerry Tarkanian's past controversies:

January 1974 - NCAA places Long Beach State's football and basketball programs on probation for recruiting violations the NCAA said "were among the most serious" it ever considered. Tarkanian was basketball coach there from 1968-73.

August 1977 - NCAA places UNLV on probation for 18 rules violations and recommends it suspend Tarkanian, who was hired by UNLV in 1973, from the school's athletic program for two years.

September 1977 - Tarkanian files suit to keep his job. Injunction granted.

1984 - Nevada judge upholds 1977 injunction allowing Tarkanian to continue as coach.

1986 - Tarkanian authorizes recruitment of Lloyd Daniels, who attended four different high schools but never graduated from one. A UNLV assistant becomes Daniels' legal guardian, an arrangement investigated by the NCAA.

1987 - Nevada Supreme Court upholds lower court ruling that NCAA violated Tarkanian's constitutional rights by denying him due process in the 1977 case.

December 1988 - U.S. Supreme Court rules, in 5-4 vote, the NCAA acted with proper authority in 1977 when it ordered UNLV to suspend Tarkanian for two years for flagrantly violating NCAA recruiting rules.

July 1990 - NCAA Committee on Infractions prohibits UNLV from postseason play in 1991 as result of 1977 case. School appeals and defers postseason ban until after 1991-92 season.

May 1991 - The Las Vegas Review-Journal publishes photos of UNLV stars Moses Scurry and David Butler sitting in a hot tub with gambler Richard Perry.

December 1991 - Tarkanian files countersuit against NCAA seeking to have UNLV's postseason ban lifted.

November 1993 - NCAA places UNLV on three years' probation for 29 rules violations from 1987 to 1991.They were banned from national TV and forced to play all non-conference regular-season games on the road in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.

July 1994 - Tarkanian ends three years of litigation by saying he will drop suits against UNLV. In the deal the school agrees to pay Tarkanian $250,000 in legal fees for a decade of battles with the NCAA.

- USA Today.