Eh, don’t get me started.
UNLV HAD money long ago, it’s what happens when you dominate in college basketball and lead the country in merchandising for the sport. Admittedly, football should have been better taken care of financially back then.
The majority didn’t get what they wanted, Tarkanian to remain here. The minority, which included some local power people and jealous academians and administrators, wanted Tarkanian out at all costs because he was an “embarrassment” for his off-court issues... if that was an embarrassment, what the hell is now? Tark gets ousted a two years after a national championship, one year after a final four, immediately following a 26-2 season that saw them in the top 10 after rattling off 23 straight (we were ineligible for post season because of sanctions, which, in comparison to today’s infractions were light). The program was sabotaged internally by presidents and AD’s and others at the school, in cahoots with the LVRJ.... and after that, Tark is booted. The braintrusts figured things were rolling so well that anybody could drive the train and they bring in the disasterous washed up Rollie Massimino... the program nosedives and never comes close to recovering while money is hemorrhaged.
The people that “won” that battle are long gone, they don’t give a shit. The ones that lost the battle, a few remain but not many. The “winners” were dead wrong as time and an NCAA settlement showed, the “losers” were right. Unless we need two more decades of nothingness to prove it.
I love my teams, I hate my school.
I burned my diploma the day it was sent to me in the mail (I refused to walk) because it had one of the idiot saboteur president’s name on it.
It really is a screwed up institution.
Joe, it seems like we have this conversation once a year or so. My memory of events are the following:
Tarkanian was an astoundingly successful coach. Won a national championship. Whatever was going on between the administration and athletics was way, way above my pay grade.
The events, in chronological order, as far as I can recall.
The RJ published the PHOTO of three or so b-ball players in a hot tub with ? Perry, a known fixer of college b-ball games. Not the greatest publicity for a university.
Next, at some meeting between Tarkanian, Maxson, and god knows who, Tarkanian agreed to resign with the proviso that he could coach one last season. I assume that was the 26 and 2 season.
Now comes a massive, what if. If that was the end of it and Jerry resigned as agreed to, what would have happened to unlv basketball? We will never know.
Instead, Tarkanian, I assume at the behest of friends, decided to rescind his resignation. UNLV said "no thanks." At that point, the proverbial sh&*%t hit the fan, and Las Vegas split into two camps, much like today's politics. The so-called pro-Tark group versus the pro-UNLV group, or Joe would say pro-athletics versus pro-academics.
The ensuing war poisoned the well and what once looked like a great coaching opportunity at UNLV after Tark resigned became a bottomless pit after Tark un-resigned.
When sides had to be chosen, I was unabashedly on the pro-academics side. On the other hand, I have always felt, still feel, and will feel in the future, that there is no reason that academic and athletic success cannot co-exist on campus.
Regardless of what went on behind the scene, that was my view from my office on campus. From my perspective, Tark resigned and was not fired. I assume he was encouraged to resign but that is besides the point. From campus, it looked like he resigned and then decided to un-resign. And that was when the circus began.
