LAS VEGAS, Feb. 11 (UPI) — Former UNLV coach and college basketball hall-of-famer Jerry Tarkanian died Wednesday at the age of 84.
The legend had gone through a series of hospitalizations after having two heart attacks in the last three years.
Earlier Wednesday, his son, Danny Tarkanian, said his father was “still fighting.”
It was his son who announced the death on Twitter.
Coach Tark, my father, the greatest man I have ever known, passed today, to take his place in heaven. I will miss him every day of my life.— Danny Tarkanian (@DannyTarkanian) February 11, 2015
Tarkanian had a successful career in college basketball from 1968 to 2002 with 729 wins at the Division I level. While coaching the UNLV team, he saw 509 wins including the national championship in 1990. He made the Final Four four times.
In addition to his coaching, Tarkanian was known for his antagonistic relationship with the NCAA, often calling it “hypocritical.” In 1992, he filed a lawsuit claiming an NCAA investigator was being untruthful in order to get him dismissed as coach.
After a public relations blow involving a photo of UNLV players in a hot tub with a man linked to Boston College’s point-shaving scandal, Tarkanian left UNLV after the 1991-1992 season. The NCAA settled with Tarkanian in 1998, paying him $2.5 million in damages.
He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.
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