Tarkanian Encourages the Inquiry of MacLean and UCLA : College basketball: The UNLV coach, a longtime target of NCAA, also faces allegations about his recruitment of star forward. He harbors grudges against Harrick, UCLA.

That Jerry Tarkanian, Nevada Las Vegas coach, has taken an active interest in allegations about UCLA’s recruitment of Don MacLean is not surprising. It is just another chapter in the long-running saga between Tarkanian and Westwood.

While not directly contributing information, Tarkanian and his lawyer, Charles Thompson, have encouraged Jack Hirsch and Jerry Roth to pursue the matter. Hirsch and Roth, Hirsch’s lawyer, discussed MacLean’s recruitment with NCAA investigators on Feb. 17.

Tarkanian’s dislike for UCLA goes back 20 years, to when he coached Cal State Long Beach to the 1971 and ’72 Western Regional finals against John Wooden’s Bruins. Tarkanian’s 49ers were eliminated each time.

And in 1973, Tarkanian’s program became the focus of an NCAA investigation that resulted in three years’ probation for 23 rule violations. Although it was later reported that UCLA booster Sam Gilbert broke numerous NCAA rules by taking care of Bruin players during that period, Wooden’s program was not investigated.

Then, after Tarkanian left Long Beach for Las Vegas in March of 1973, Jim Harrick alerted the NCAA to a possible violation involving one of his players at Morningside High in Inglewood and UNLV.

Harrick, who was leaving Morningside to take an assistant’s position at Utah State, raised questions about a trip to Las Vegas taken by the mother of recruit Jackie Robinson.

In his 1988 biography, “Tark,” written with Terry Pluto, Tarkanian said: “Harrick was applying for several college assistant jobs. He was indicating to the colleges that he would be able to take Jackie with him wherever he would go. And that probably was true, until I went to Vegas.

“But when I signed Jackie, Harrick called the NCAA and said I had bought Jackie. It was incredible.”

An NCAA investigation into numerous allegations involving the UNLV program ultimately led to probation for the school in 1977 and prompted Tarkanian to take the NCAA to court. The fallout from a lengthy legal battle is that Las Vegas will be banned from NCAA postseason play and television appearances next season.

In a bizarre turn of events, Harrick’s involvement 18 years ago helped him land Ed O’Bannon and Shon Tarver, two highly coveted Southland high school stars last year.

O’Bannon and Tarver originally gave unwritten commitments to attend Las Vegas, but decided to go to UCLA last summer after the NCAA leveled one-year sanctions against the Rebels.

Another factor that has irked Tarkanian involves MacLean, who is named in the NCAA’s current allegations against Las Vegas.

One charge involves Tarkanian’s son, Danny, who allegedly had an illegal contact with MacLean by giving the prospect a ride, according to the NCAA’s Official Letter of Inquiry. Another details MacLean’s unpaid bills at a hotel while on an official recruiting visit.

The NCAA charged that MacLean was one of 20 recruits who incurred excessive expenses during visits to UNLV between 1986-89. The NCAA charged that the university “made little if no attempt” to collect the money from the recruits.

MacLean’s bill was listed as $317, the most of any recruit named in the allegations.

MacLean’s mother, Pat Coyne, said: “The NCAA talked to us about that. Those are erroneous. They make allegations that are untrue. Don did not do that.”