Hall of Fame coach dies at 84

Despite settlement, fight with NCAA left coach embittered.

Jerry Tarkanian, a UNLV coaching legend also known for his bitter feud with the NCAA, died Wednesday after several years of health issues. Tarkanian, a basketball innovator who led the Rebels to four Final Fours and one national title, also won a $2.5 million settlement after suing the NCAA.

LAS VEGAS — He couldn’t stop fighting the NCAA any more than he could give up chewing towels courtside. Jerry Tarkanian built a basketball dynasty in the desert, but it was his decades-long battle with the NCAA that defined him far more than the wins and losses.

The coach who won a national title at UNLV and made the school synonymous with basketball died Wednesday after several years of health issues. He was 84.

Tarkanian put the run in the Runnin’ Rebels, taking them to four Final Fours and winning a national title in 1990. His teams were as flamboyant as the city, with light shows and fireworks for introductions and celebrities at courtside.

He ended up beating the NCAA, too, collecting a $2.5 million settlement after suing the organization for trying to run him out of college basketball. But he was bitter to the end about the way the NCAA treated him.

“They’ve been my tormentors my whole life,” NBA San Antonio Year 1993 Tarkanian said at his retirement in 2002. “It will never stop.”

The night before he died, fans attending UNLV’s game against Fresno State draped towels over the statue of Tarkanian outside the campus arena that depicts Tarkanian chewing on one of his famous towels.

Tarkanian’s wife, Lois, said her husband — hospitalized Monday with an infection and breathing difficulties — fought health problems for the last six years with the same “courage and tenacity” he showed throughout his life. His death came just days after the death of another Hall of Fame coach, North Carolina’s Dean Smith.

Tarkanian was an innovator who preached defense yet loved to watch his teams run. And run they did, beginning with his first Final Four team in 1976-77, which scored more than 100 points in 23 games in an era before both the shot clock and the 3-point shot.

In 2013, Tark the Shark was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, an honor fellow coaches said was long overdue. Tarkanian’s career spanned 31 years with three Division I schools, beginning at Long Beach State and ending at Fresno State, where Tarkanian played in 1954-55. Only twice did his teams fail to win at least 20 games. NBA notes ■ Knicks: Forward Carmelo Anthony sat out Wednesday’s game against Orlando because of a sore left knee. ■ Bulls: All-Star Jimmy Butler is questionable for tonight’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers because of a strained right shoulder. ■ Wizards: Shooting guard Bradley Beal sat out Wednesday night’s road game against the Toronto Raptors with a right leg injury.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS 1995 The towel-chomping Jerry Tarkanian built a dynasty at UNLV during a Hall of Fame career, but the coach also was known for his long battle with the NCAA.