Mulligan, Tark Friends to the End : Basketball: Coaches who crossed paths some 30 years ago have always stayed in touch. On the court, UCI has been anything but amiable for UNLV.

They met in the late 1950s, two young high school coaches just beginning their climbs.

Bill Mulligan, who last week announced his retirement as UC Irvine’s coach, was coaching at Long Beach Poly High School. Jerry Tarkanian, coach of defending national champion Nevada Las Vegas, was the coach at Redlands High.

Together, they joined with two other friends to found the Southern California High School Coaches’ Assn.

“For our first clinic, we had Pete Newell and John Wooden,” Mulligan said.

In some 30 years since, Mulligan and Tarkanian have remained friends as their careers first paralleled each other, and later diverged.

Tarkanian helped Mulligan get his first college head coaching job, at Riverside City College in 1966, when Tarkanian resigned that position to move on to Pasadena City College.

“Tarkanian grabbed me at the NCAA tournament in 1966 and said, ‘I’m going to recommend you for the Riverside job, if you want it,’ ” Mulligan said.

Later, when Mulligan was coach at Saddleback College, he was helping Tarkanian recruit Kevin Magee, a future All-American who instead followed Mulligan to Irvine in 1980.

“The irony of it all was if he didn’t get the Irvine job, Magee was going to come to UNLV,” said Tarkanian, who spent two seasons at Pasadena and five at Cal State Long Beach before going to UNLV in 1973.

Tarkanian went on to national fame as the bald-headed, beagle-eyed coach of one of the best teams in the history of college basketball.

“I still call him Jerry,” Mulligan said. “I don’t call him Tark. That’s a media deal.”

Mulligan went on to success as a community college coach, and early success at Irvine, only to see his career end with three consecutive losing seasons.

But one of the hallmarks of his career was an unlikely record against Tarkanian’s teams, which have spent as much time in the national rankings as Mulligan’s teams have spent tangled in the middle of the Big West Conference.

Mulligan’s teams beat UNLV six times during the 1980s, more than any other coach.

In 1986, Irvine beat the top-20 Rebels twice in two weeks.

“They beat us six times,” Tarkanian said, adding with a touch of coyness, “How many times did we beat them?”

The answer is 15--as of this morning.

“They had some pretty good players,” Tarkanian said. “I think they have more guys in the NBA than we do.”

No one, including Mulligan, is giving Irvine more than a sliver of a chance against top-ranked UNLV tonight, when Mulligan and Tarkanian face each other for what could well be the last time.

The only way they will meet again is if 10th-place Irvine sneaks into the eight-team Big West Conference tournament, in which case the Anteaters likely would win the unfortunate distinction of playing UNLV again.

As the seasons passed, Mulligan’s and Tarkanian’s careers diverged more and more.

“We travel in a little different circle,” Mulligan said. “Like, I don’t hang around with Sinatra.”

An example: When Mulligan was seeking membership to the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, Tarkanian said, “I personally got him in.”

“Here I am at Irvine, right here, and the coach from Vegas has to get me in,” Mulligan said.

The upsets are what people will remember, but when Mulligan plays UNLV, there have been numerous blowouts as well.

The Anteaters lost by 41 this season, by 36 last season and by 35 in 1988.

“The times we’ve beaten them, we’ve always run,” Mulligan said. “The times I’ve tried to be realistic, we haven’t done well.”

How to explain some of those victories?

“With Vegas, it’s the game with the least pressure every year,” Mulligan said. “No one thinks you’re going to win. I’m more relaxed. The players are more relaxed.”

Tarkanian agrees. “They never come in here scared,” he said. “A lot of guys come in here scared of us. They come in and try to outrun us.”

A THORN IN UNLV’S SIDE Dec. 12, 1981: UCI 82, UNLV 70--Kevin Magee, a senior, scored 28 points despite picking up his fourth foul with 8 minutes 41 seconds left. Ben McDonald added 20 points in an upset of No. 15 UNLV in the Anaheim Convention Center.

March 1, 1984: UCI 77, UNLV 74--With three seconds left, Tod Murphy went up for a dunk, and as UNLV’s Richie Adams blocked it, an official whistled a much-disputed call of goaltending, plus a foul. Murphy hit the free throw for a three-point play, and No. 7 UNLV lost, to the delight of the Crawford Hall crowd.

Feb. 15, 1986: UCI 99, UNLV 92--Johnny Rogers scored a career-high 41 points and No. 6 UNLV lost for only the second time in the Thomas & Mack Center. UNLV had been 41-1 in the arena, losing only to Georgetown in overtime in 1983.

Feb. 27, 1986: UCI 95, UNLV 88--Twelve days later, Irvine upset UNLV again, at Crawford Hall. Rogers scored 32 points and Murphy had 27. Scott Brooks hit two free throws with nine seconds left, and Murphy made two with one second left. Armon Gilliam scored 24 points for No. 9 UNLV before fouling out with 9:51 left.

March 11, 1988: UCI 74, UNLV 70--The Anteaters, who trailed by 47 points during a January loss to the Rebels, knocked UNLV out in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament at The Forum. Wayne Engelstad scored seven points in the first minute and finished with 30. Irvine, a victory away from its first NCAA berth, lost to Utah State in the final.

Feb. 4, 1989: UCI 99, UNLV 98--With time running out and Irvine leading by three, UNLV’s Anderson Hunt drove for an open layup in a gaff that ended No. 16 UNLV’s hopes. Irvine held the ball out of bounds as time ran out at the Bren Center. Ricky Butler scored 25 points, making 17 of 19 free throws. Jeff Herdman added 24 points, including five three-pointers.