Bio

Jerry Tarkanian, the son of Armenian immigrants, was born in Euclid, Ohio, United States, and attended Pasadena City College in California where he played in 1950-51.He later transferred to Fresno State where he played basketball for the Bulldogs in 1954 and 1955. He graduated in 1955. Later, he earned a master's degree in educational management from the University of Redlands.

He began coaching high school basketball in California in 1956, and moved to college ball at Riverside City College from 1961-1966 and Pasadena City College from 1966-68. His teams won four California junior college championships.

1967 Pasadena City College (35-1) def Long Beach City (28-2), 89-79

1966 Riverside City College (33-1) def San Francisco (30-3), 91-16

1965 Riverside City College (31-5) def Fresno City (26-9), 69-67 ot

1964 Riverside City College (35-0) def Allan Hancock (26-7), 78-71

Also known as "Tark the Shark", he is a retired college basketball coach known as one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history. He is also well known for his colorful behavior, including habitually chewing on a towel during games, and for his public criticisms and legendary clashes with the NCAA, which eventually paid Tarkanian the largest settlement in NCAA history.

With a 9900228 career coaching record (81.3%) across all college divisions, Tarkanian currently has more collegiate wins than almost any men's coach in history (Gene Bess has over 1000 wins at the community college level). He is also one of few college coaches to lead three different schools to 20-win seasons. He accomplished this task at each school in his first year.