Tark Fans Say He Was Novel Pick

SAN DIEGO —  The room was quiet, the faithful were reverent and the moment was rife with symbolism.

Jerry Tarkanian entered the bookstore wearing red and black--Nevada Las Vegas colors, but also San Diego State’s.

The first person in line, a 13-year-old who had been waiting for two hours, was wearing a cap for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. He came bearing a gift--something called a stress ball.

At the very moment fans began streaming past Tarkanian to get his signature on a copy of Don Yaeger’s new book, “Shark Attack,” SDSU was holding a press conference announcing its new men’s basketball coach, Tony Fuller. Fuller has never held a Division I head coaching position; Tarkanian has the highest winning percentage (83.7%) in NCAA history. Tarkanian wanted the job for which Fuller was deemed the best candidate.

At the end of the autograph session, Tarkanian was informed he had an afternoon interview with PBS scheduled. When he found out the studio was on the SDSU campus, Tarkanian said no way, he would do it by telephone.

“I don’t want to go there,” he said.

The irony of it all.

About half the people who bought 201 Tarkanian books from Harcourt Brace Jovanovich on Wednesday--about half what Oliver North sold in November and twice what Larry Bowa sold two years ago--knew the Aztecs had hired Fuller, but most of those still had not gotten his first name down. “Tom? Tony?”

Perhaps having only been exposed to Tarkanian’s game face, one woman turned to a companion late in the session and said, “He even smiles and everything.”

Yes, Jerry Tarkanian is a real guy. He smiled. He posed for pictures. He signed. He didn’t seem to be nearly as upset as those who plunked down $21.50 (plus tax) for the new hardcover. They weren’t upset over the price, but San Diego State’s passing over a legend.

Lisa Jensen, 23, a senior majoring in physical education at SDSU, still had not heard whom the Aztecs hired.

UCLA assistant Tony Fuller, she was told.

“Shoot,” she said, or something to that effect. She won’t be buying season tickets.

“I’m on that side of campus and I don’t know one person at San Diego State who doesn’t want him at the school, except for the professors,” Jensen said. “But they should stick to their jobs and let the coaches stick to theirs.”

Jensen wasn’t the only person feeling that way.

Monty Mance, 34, a 1980 SDSU graduate, has been a Runnin’ Rebel fan for years.

“I think (SDSU) made a mistake,” Mance said. “There’s three reasons why he would have been the best choice. One, he’s got a lot to prove. Two, he would have run a squeaky clean program because it would be watched so closely. Three, it would revive the program. (SDSU President) Thomas Day’s not putting enough faith in his school’s own academic credentials.”

The San Diego autograph session was the fifth on the book promotion tour. Tarkanian and Yaeger are in Denver today and Phoenix Friday. He did Roy Firestone’s Up Close last night on ESPN. Larry King is in the wings.

Yaeger, a former political writer in Jacksonville, Fla., was inspired to write the Tarkanian book after writing “Undue Process: The NCAA’s Injustice for All.” Yaeger, who has signed alongside Tarkanian on the tour, said the response to Tarkanian the past week has been “interesting.”

“In San Diego, they all came up today and said, ‘We wish you could have gotten the job at San Diego State,’ ” Yaeger said. “In Las Vegas, it was ‘We wish we could have kept you.’ In Los Angeles, it was ‘Kick their butts whatever you do.’ ”

Bruce Johnson, SDSU class of 1977, was in a foul mood. He had gathered 500 signatures on a petition encouraging Day to hire Tarkanian.

“I’m one (ticked) off alumnus,” he said. “I hope Fuller does well, but he’s an unknown quality; he’s been an assistant under one coach. Supposedly, he’s a good recruiter, but I just hope we’re not doing this again in three years looking for another coach.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that Dr. Day passed up on. The man wanted to coach here. You get a guy like Fuller who comes into town, what if he is successful? How long is he going to stay at San Diego State, or is he going to go off someplace else? Tark wanted to stay here three or four years, then (UNLV assistant Tim) Grgurich was going to take over and we were all set.

“I would think that all the money Tark would have brought to SDSU through attendance, mainly, that would have helped in building a new arena on campus, it would have helped the financial situation of the athletic department, as well as the whole university. The bottom line is not wins and losses, the bottom line--in my opinion--is money; Dr. Day thought ‘integrity.’ I think that was his word in a letter to me.”

Even Tarkanian’s friends took a spot in line. Pete Trabucco lives a couple of doors up the street from Tarkanian’s condominium in Pacific Beach. It was apparent from the pleasantries that they had run into each other at the Jacuzzi.

“Day had an opportunity to give SDSU a real Division I team,” said Trabucco, who is involved in merchandising and envisions one day having a Tark Doll on the market. “We had a chance to have the key guy who, in two years, would have put them in the top 25 with 18, 19 wins; then we could be rooting for our own team in the NCAA Tournament.”

Tarkanian himself said that he wanted Duke in the office pool, but just because they were the best team didn’t make them a cinch.

He should know.

Yaeger said the past month has been rough on Tarkanian.

“Tark said all along, ‘If you’re going to fire me, fire me, but don’t destroy me in the process,’ ” Yaeger said of Tarkanian’s bout with UNLV President Robert Maxson. “In a perverse sort of way, people are feeling sorry for him.”

Tarkanian didn’t say much that hadn’t been said before, but conceded, “This whole thing has bothered me so much because we were betrayed by our own people. That bothers you more than anything else. We were totally dismantled from inside. In an effort to discredit the program, they not only hurt me, but they hurt the kids involved. It was a brutal act.”

He said he knew that when allegations of point-shaving in the 1991 NCAA semifinal game against Duke surfaced that he was effectively out of the picture for the SDSU job.

“I knew it was an uphill battle all along,” Tarkanian said. “But (SDSU was) very up-front about it.”

Beethoven Diosa, 20, a student at San Diego State, was wearing a shirt that on the front was written “No Fear.” On the back, something to the effect of “Wimps will never be heroes.” It was a feeling consistent with all those who attended the autograph session.

“Tark doesn’t care about what other people say,” Diosa said. “He just wants to win. The basketball team lost ($96,000) this year. Day should forget about Tark’s past and take him.”

Of course, it was too late. Fear, apparently, had won out.