EIGHT years and one day ago, Jerry Tarkanian stood courtside at McNichols Arena with a bemused expression on his face. Tark’s victory is a
national ‘championship’Gathered around him were a few family and friends who were still feeling the high of Nevada-Las Vegas' commanding 103-73 victory over Duke in the 1990 national championship.
"You know we can win another one next year, if the NCAA lets us," Tarkanian told the Las Vegas beat writers. "But I don't think they like having us around.
"Some people say I should retire after all the NCAA has put us through. But what am I going to do, sit on my back porch and drink buttermilk? I don't want to retire. Now that I've won a national championship, I want to come back and win another."
Tarkanian made it back to the Final Four in 1991, but the difficult road put in front of him by the NCAA selection committee was too much to overcome. Not only did UNLV have to play Georgetown -- which had Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo -- in the second round, the Rebels also beat a talented Seton Hall team in the West Regional final before losing to Duke in the Final Four semifinals. A crucial charging call late in the game against Greg Anthony sealed the deal.
NCAA enforcement director David Berst, who once called Tarkanian a rug merchant, reportedly told close friends after UNLV's loss to Duke in 1991, "The drinks are on me."
Well, set up a round for Tarkanian, who just collected a cool $2.5 million in damages from the organization that pursued him relentlessly for 26 years. Along the way, the NCAA sanctioned Tarkanian's UNLV teams three times.
The first occurred in 1977 after the organization tried to ban him from basketball for two years for alleged violations personally gathered by Berst. Tarkanian remained on the court after he filed a lawsuit against the NCAA for lack of due process.
The case wound its way through the legal system for a dozen years before the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, in favor of the NCAA. In the 1989 ruling, the justices said the NCAA was a private organization and didn't have to provide its members due process.
The NCAA didn't try to enforce the original two-year ban because UNLV president Robert Maxson forced Tarkanian to resign after the 1992 season. It was at this point that Tarkanian decided to sue the NCAA a second time for its efforts to smear his name.
After losing several mock trials and failing to get the court battle removed from Las Vegas, the NCAA decided to settle. The NCAA didn't admit any wrongdoing in its pursuit of Tarkanian during his 19 years at UNLV. But the fact that the collegiate organization made its first payment ever to a plaintiff to settle a case speaks volumes.
GRANTED, the NCAA didn't admit it had targeted Tarkanian unfairly. But NCAA executive director Cedric Dempsey conceded the long-running case had caused distress for all concerned.
In some strange twist of fate, the Tarkanian case has led to a kinder, gentler NCAA. Instead of conducting written interviews with witnesses, as was done in the Tarkanian case, investigators now tape all interviews. The NCAA also publishes its enforcement rules in the NCAA manual so coaches and athletic directors have a better understanding of what they can and can't do.
Most coaches probably wouldn't publicly admit that Tarkanian was their poster child, but his long battle with the omnipotent NCAA was a blessing in disguise.
"All of us need to recognize that our investigative procedures are continually evolving," Dempsey said at yesterday's press conference announcing the settlement.
That's good news for athletic departments across the country because the Gestapo tactics used in the early days of the Tarkanian case were wrong. The huge settlement proves that, even if the actual admission of guilt won't be written on paper.
Paul Arnett has been covering sports
for the Star-Bulletin since 1990.
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