UNLV was nothing before Jerry Tarkanian.

People often referred to the university as "Tumbleweed Tech" before Tarkanian stepped on campus.

Now UNLV has the fourth-highest winning percentage in Division I history, above both UCLA and Duke. That's thanks in large part to the man many called Tark "the Shark."

Jerry Tarkanian died on February 11 at the age of 84 after a recent illness.

Tarkanian was always fun to watch on the sidelines. He was known to always carry a towel with him that he'd bite down on when things got stressful. His teams were fun to watch, too: UNLV played an uptempo style and the team that won the 1990 national championship still holds the distinction as being the only team to ever score more than 100 points in the title game.

Couple Tarkanian's death with that of former North Carolina coach Dean Smith, and college basketball has lost two legends this week.

 

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