Tarkanian

Once again, the Shark's in hot water and he's boiling mad. The latest Jerry Tarkanian controversy is over freebies to Nevada-Las Vegas basketball games, and once again, it involves Richard "Richie the Fixer" Perry.But this time it is not Tarkanian's lifelong enemy, the NCAA, that is after what's left of his scalp, it's the local authorities -- Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa.A spokesman for Del Papa said the attorney general's office would meet with the University of Nevada's board of regents tomorrow to report the findings of an investigation that began in October.

Tarkanian rips NCAA before CongressJerry Tarkanian accused the NCAA of conducting "a reign of terror" in college sports and said Congress should step in to reform the group. Nevada-Las Vegas' Tarkanian and fellow basketball coach Dale Brown of Louisiana State lambasted the NCAA for an hour yesterday before the House subcommittee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Competitiveness."The biggest problem in college sports? The NCAA, period," said Tarkanian, whose basketball program has been under investigation for eight of the past 18 years.

LAS VEGAS -- In an apparent compromise worked out between Jerry Tarkanian and University of Nevada-Las Vegas officials, Tarkanian will spend one more season as UNLV's basketball coach before leaving the job he has held through nearly two decades of triumph and turmoil.Tarkanian's plans were announced yesterday after two days of talks between Tarkanian and university president Robert Maxson.Tarkanian's program has been the subject of negative publicity on an almost weekly basis during the last few months -- the most damaging item being the publication of photographs in the Las Vegas Review-Journal May 26 showing former UNLV players Moses Scurry, David Butler and Anderson Hunt socializing with convicted sports fixer Richard Perry.

Tarkanian reportedly to quit after seasonJerry Tarkanian, whose 18 years at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas have been marked by highly successful teams and continuing investigations by the collegiate authorities, expected to announce today that he will coach the basketball team for one more season and then resign.Although Tarkanian has two more years left on his contract, the Las Vegas Sun, citing unnamed sources, said the university will not be required to buy out the final year of the contract.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Jerry Tarkanian is expected to announce today that he will coach the University of Nevada-Las Vegas basketball team for one more season and then resign.Tarkanian met yesterday with UNLV president Robert Maxson for the second time in two days.

Jerry Tarkanian, college basketball's winningest coach, will step down at Nevada-Las Vegas after next season as part of a settlement with university officials, several sources said yesterday.A source close to Tarkanian told The Dallas Morning News that Tarkanian would resign, following his closed-door session Monday with the university system's Board of Regents. The Associated Press also quoted three unnamed sources as confirming the settlement.One university official, who asked not to be identified, said UNLV would hold a news conference tomorrow or Friday to make an announcement.

'92 ECC tournaments dribble to UMBCThe East Coast Conference announced yesterday that its men's basketball championship, which has been held at Towson State University for the past eight years, will be held next year at the University of Maryland Baltimore County Fieldhouse. The tournament will be played March 7-9.The women's basketball championship also will be held at UMBC. The first round will be played Friday, March 6, the semifinals March 8 and the final March 9 as part of a doubleheader with the men's title game.

Jerry Tarkanian said he is so upset at the attacks on his teaand his players that he will leave his job as basketball coach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas as soon as the NCAA completes an investigation that it began in 1987."

Like him or loathe him, you must say this for Jerry Tarkanian: He has done it his way. Right or wrong, he has marched to his own drummer.Beat the NCAA system? Like a dog. Evade his punishment? For 13 artful years. Put together a championship basketball team? As well as anyone has for a long, long time.Tarkanian's calling card will be on display at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis this weekend. It is the best basketball team in the country, Nevada-Las Vegas' unbeaten Rebels, who are about to run right past Duke and North Carolina or Kansas into the history books.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- It was only 10 minutes after top-seeded Nevada-Las Vegas had claimed Montana as its 42nd straight victim, 99-65, that someone was trying to build a case for the Georgetown Hoyas as possible giant-killers in this afternoon's West Regional second-round matchup at the University of Arizona's McKale Center.UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, aiming for a second straight titl before facing NCAA sanctions next season, was reminded that he has yet to beat the Hoyas and coach John Thompson in five encounters.