Willie Brown Asks SDSU to Hire Jerry Tarkanian

In a highly unusual move, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown personally lobbied San Diego State University to hire Jerry Tarkanian, the controversial University of Nevada-Las Vegas basketball coach who has been dogged by charges of NCAA rules violations.

Jimmy Lewis, Brown’s spokesman in Sacramento, said late Friday that the powerful politician made his wishes about Tarkanian known in a phone call to the San Diego school.

“He did make a call to San Diego State, recommending that they consider Mr. Tarkanian favorably,” said Lewis, Brown’s acting press secretary.

“And he reminded them that the Legislature had honored Mr. Tarkanian, and that he thought he would be a valuable addition to the California (State University) system.”

SDSU President Thomas B. Day confirmed that Brown had called the school within the last 10 days to two weeks, but declined to say if they had talked personally.

“I don’t want to get into any discussion of any kind about the speaker in any manner,” said Day, SDSU president for 14 years. “That’s not to say I talked to him or didn’t talk to him.”

Asked if receiving a call from Brown is normal, Day replied: “The question was, ‘Is it usual for the speaker to call San Diego State?’ And my answer is ‘No.’ ”

As Speaker, Brown sits on the California State University Board of Trustees, whose members are supposed to consider broad policy matters for the 370,000-student system and steer clear of the hiring decisions at any one of the 20 campuses.

Brown also is a key legislator responsible for shaping this year’s state budget, which calls for huge increases in student fees at SDSU and campuses throughout the state.

Brown’s support for Tarkanian is well-known. Lewis said Friday that the Assembly, under Brown, once honored Tarkanian “for his abilities in the coaching area.”

In 1990, Brown sponsored a resolution calling on President Bush and Congress to require the National College Athletic Assn. to adopt due process guidelines while investigating athletes and coaches. The non-binding measure, which passed both houses of the Legislature handily, was inspired by Tarkanian’s long fight against the NCAA’s enforcement policy.

A source also told The Times that Brown considers himself a personal friend of Tarkanian and has told associates that he admires the coach’s contributions, especially in working with inner-city youth.

Tarkanian could not be reached for comment Friday night.

The embattled coach is considered a popular candidate of SDSU Athletic Director Fred Miller, players and boosters. Miller is a longtime friend who hired Tarkanian for his first Division I coaching job when both men were at Cal State Long Beach in the late 1960s.

After moving to Las Vegas, Tarkanian helped build a basketball dynasty that has dominated opponents and churned out star players for the pros.

Yet the coach, known for his deep-set eyes and his nervous habit of chewing on a towel during games, has also labored under the cloud of a series of NCAA investigations. In 1977, the NCAA documented 39 violations--10 of them by Tarkanian. The NCAA threatened to impose severe sanctions against UNLV if it didn’t suspend its coach.

Tarkanian took the NCAA to court and won an injunction against the penalty. The case, hinging on the notion of whether the NCAA must provide individuals with legal due process, was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of the NCAA in December, 1988.

As a final resolution of the 1977 case, the UNLV team, which won the NCAA championship two years ago, has been banned from appearing in the 1992 NCAA tournament.

Another NCAA investigation, which began in 1987, has turned up 40 rules violations. Those charges were lodged against the school in two parts, in 1990 and 1991. The case has been stalled by a 1991 Nevada state law that requires the NCAA to apply the standards of legal due process in its inquiries. The NCAA has challenged that law in court, and the case goes to trial next week.

Tarkanian tendered his resignation in June, effective at the end of the current basketball season. His last game for UNLV was last Tuesday.

But, since then, the coach has said he wants to rescind that resignation--even as his name is being considered at San Diego State.

Day said Friday that the local furor over Tarkanian is a “fantasy frenzy,” and that the school hopes to announce its new coach soon.

Jim Brandenburg was fired as coach Feb. 11, and the team has the worst record in school history, having won just two games before Friday night’s road game with the University of Hawaii.

“We are playing our last game tonight and hope to choose a new head basketball coach as soon as possible,” Day said. “It depends on who is in the candidate pool, because there might be candidates who are in the post-season tournament.

“If it weren’t for that, we’d be trying to get a new coach within a week because the coach has to go out and recruit.”

Times staff writer Scott Miller in San Diego contributed to this story.

MORE ON TARKANIAN: C1, C5