Friday, Jan. 30, 2009 | 11:02 a.m.
I get a lot of feedback about having so many great friends in the coaching fraternity, and I am fortunate to be close to so many good people.
From Bobby Knight to Jim Calhoun to Mike Krzyzewski to Denny Crum, I couldn’t name them all in one column.
But someone inquired about any coaches I didn’t like, and that’s a short list. In fact, there are only two guys I didn’t like at all.
The worst was Frank Arnold at BYU. He was a pompous ass. He thought BYU was so big time and UNLV was bad. To this day, I just can’t stand him.
The other guy I had an ongoing feud with was Jim Harrick.
Those are the only two guys.
Harrick coached Jackie Robinson in high school. Jackie’s brother Sam played for me. I was closer to that family than anybody.
When Jackie’s mother died, I said the eulogy at the funeral. That’s how close I was to that family.
Jackie’s younger brother Angelo was my son Danny’s age. Angelo spent about five Christmases at our house. We were so close.
When Jackie’s sister got married, I went to the wedding. I was at Long Beach State, and Jackie asked me, “You’re going to recruit me, right?”
I said, You’re a great player, but I got Roscoe Pondexter at that position. Unless I can play you, I don’t want to recruit you. He wanted to play for me so badly.
In the meantime, Harrick was shopping a couple of those guys to get a college job. He told Loyola, in Los Angeles, if he got the job he’d take all those guys with him.
He told the Utah State coach that he could bring a bunch of those guys up there with him.
I’m not recruiting Jackie. Roscoe was a 6-foot-5 forward who could jump like heck. He was so strong. I told Jackie, I’m too close to your family to bring you in and not play you.
Jackie’s senior year, he’s going to go with Harrick. At the end, I take the UNLV job. I called Lois, who was at the house we were going to buy in Las Vegas with Ann Archibald, the wife of my assistant, Lynn.
Lois tells me the first thing I had to do was call Mrs. Robinson, to bring Jackie to Las Vegas. I didn’t have a forward his size in Las Vegas. They drove to her house.
I called later and Jackie’s mother said, God bless you, coach, we were praying you’d take that job.
It was an automatic deal. Jackie’s was the easiest recruitment I ever had. I was so close to that family. And Harrick tells the NCAA we cheated to get Jackie.
He denies doing all this, but we got copies of transcripts. We had Sports Illustrated put part of it in a story. It was really bad. It really hurt.
For a long time, Harrick tried to be a friend. I’d say hello, but I didn’t respect him at all. The stuff he said was all b.s.
He told Jackie, “Just tell the NCAA they gave you ‘anything,’ then they’ll have to release you.” Jackie gave an affidavit to that effect.
They said when his mother came to visit, she didn’t have money to come … that we bought her airplane ticket. We didn’t buy her airplane ticket. One of his coaches, a good friend of the family, bought the ticket.
We were able to prove that. Anyways, it was all b.s. from him. Then he goes to UCLA and he’s cheating like a … but I fixed him good.
We signed Ed O’Bannon and Shon Tarver, both out of Los Angeles, but had to release both of them and they ended up at UCLA.
When we’d watch UCLA on TV, on the road, O’Bannon’s and Tarver’s families were always there. Brothers. Sisters. Mom. Dad. Ed’s dad worked at the post office. They couldn’t afford that. I knew that.
If they had come to UNLV and the families were at those games, the NCAA would have come in with handcuffs. It was the damndest thing.
At that time, Southwest Airlines had a Friends Fly Free deal. I told the L.A. Times, Boy, UCLA really believes in that Friends Fly Free plan. Every time I watch them play, O’Bannon’s and Tarver’s families are right there.
I made sure the Times printed that. I loved that. I talked to Ed about that and he agreed with me.
We wouldn’t do anything and we’d take the heat.
It just makes me sick.
Editor's note: Jerry Tarkanian agreed to write a regular column for the Las Vegas Sun last year, and during these past several months we have enjoyed having responses from readers. But in this blog entry, many of those comments got out of control. Tark's pieces are entirely driven by readers who are curious about Tark’s thoughts on games, his past players, schemes and strategies, his family and his life. He answers reader questions with direct answers. In this instance, coach was responding to a question from a reader. He gave a candid and honest answer. Not everyone will agree with coach Tark, but agree or disagree, we ask that all comments be respectful.
