Tark's Quest: Embattled coach aims for career win No. 700 tonight

FRESNO, Calif. -- The pass went where it wasn't supposed to. Someone forget to get to the appointed spot. Two players were in the same area where only one was needed.

For Jerry Tarkanian, that was more than enough.

"Goddamit," he barked. "Do it right!"

This wasn't during the heat of the battle of a game or one of those three-hour wars he calls practice. It was merely a gameday shootaround. But if time was supposed to have mellowed the 68-year-old legendary coach, you wouldn't have known it if you were in the South Gym on the Fresno State campus.

"I don't want any talking in here! You understand?" he yelled at some kids who were on the sidelines, oblivious to the team's final preparations for a nationally televised game against Temple later that night.

When asked afterward why he was riding herd on his team, Tarkanian said, "That's the most I've yelled at them all year. I was a lot harder on my UNLV teams."

Perhaps Tark should crank up the volume. The Bulldogs responded with one of their best efforts of the year, beating Temple 66-63 on New Year's Eve to give their coach his 699th career win at the major college level.

And if Fresno State can answer the bell tonight at Selland Arena and beat 15th-ranked New Mexico, Tarkanian will find himself in some very exclusive company as one of a handful of coaches to win 700 games at this level.

Technically, Tark had already conquered that plateau back in December when Fresno beat Sacramento State. However, the NCAA had taken away five victories that had come in tournament play from his days at Long Beach State and UNLV. So he finds himself back knocking at the 700 door.

Tarkanian never has been much for individual accomplishments. He always accepted such milestones as nice, but he'd rather see his teams playing well and going for championships.

Had the record book been so important to him, he probably would have stayed retired after his final season at UNLV in 1992 when he was college basketball's all-time winningest coach by percentage. Now, he's third behind Clair Bee and Adolph Rupp.

But as he sees his career winding down, he becomes more appreciative of each victory.

"It means a lot more when you're struggling," he said. "Wins are hard to come by these days."

At 10-5, Fresno State is trying to put last year's nightmarish season in the rear-view mirror. Between injuries, academic problems, off-the-court incidents and national negative publicity in a 60 Minutes piece run last March, it was one of Tarkanian's toughest seasons in his 28 years as a major college coach.

"Sometimes, I wonder if I'm on a treadmill to nowhere," he said. "Something always seemed to go wrong for us last year. That's why I just take things day by day. Some days, I think I'm ready to go back (to Las Vegas)."

Then there are days like last Thursday, where the team responds and plays to its vast potential and Tarkanian can enjoy himself on the sidelines. He says his health is good. He likes the players that are currently in the program. He remains committed to delivering on his promise to bring Fresno State into the elite programs in the nation.

Last spring, his contract was extended through 2001. By then, the Save Mart Center on-campus arena will be finished, which was another one of the goals he set when he returned to his alma mater back in April 1995. He wanted to help FSU get a new on-campus facility.

So when you ask him the inevitable question of how much longer does he want to do this, Tarkanian shrugs.

"I like what I'm doing," he said. "I enjoy having something to do in the morning."

When Tark came back to Las Vegas after his brief NBA stint with the San Antonio Spurs in late 1992, the routine was going to the Sporting House in the morning to work out, do a radio show in the afternoon and have dinner at Piero's at night. From time to time, he would venture out of town to speak at clinics, watch practice at the various friends of his schools and serve as judge at Miss Hawaiian Tropic contests.

But there's only so much you can eat, only so much you can say on radio or TV, where he did some work as a color analyst for the Los Angeles Clippers, and only so many bikinis you can look at. For Tarkanian, there's only one place he's truly comfortable -- and that's on the basketball court.

"When I have a lot of free time, I don't know what I'd do," he said.

So he pushes on. He sees guys like Don Haskins, Jim Phelan and Eddie Sutton still on the sidelines and he knows he's not out of place.

"Hell, look at Joe Paterno," Tark said of the great Penn State football coach. "He's in his 70s and he's still winning."

And while Tarkanian is winning his share of games, he's doing it differently than when he was at UNLV. He's not as demanding on his Fresno State players, despite the yelling he did the day of the Temple game. He can't remember the last time he made a home visit to a recruit. And where he demanded absolute perfection from his players at UNLV, he seems to cut the Bulldogs some slack in that area.

He also has kept a promise he made to himself when he took over for Gary Colson four years ago. He's not letting the losses destroy him the way they would at UNLV.

"I haven't let the losses here affect me," he said.

Instead, his heartache comes from seeing talented players like Winfred Walton fail to reach his potential and wind up leaving the team. Or seeing his program portrayed on national TV as being a runaway, out-of-control pack of dope-smoking, point-shaving, sword-waving thugs.

The recent documentary on the program which aired last month on Fox Sports Net, chronicled last year's rough-and-tumble season. And while Tark said talking to 60 Minutes was not too swift an idea, he didn't mind the Fox piece.

"I thought it was fair and honest," he said. "We shouldn't have done 60 Minutes. That was a mistake."

But like those 699 wins, all of that controversy of last year is in the past. And there's nothing Tarkanian can do to change any of it. What's done is done and he knows that you don't get to pick and choose what you want your legacy to be.

Instead, he has another game to prepare for tonight. And there figures to be a little more yelling before he calls it quits for good.

"It's fun when you win," he said.

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