Advice for Day: Just Hire Tark

Please take this letter from fantasyland--a.k.a. the sports pages--and deliver it to Dr. Thomas Day, president of San Diego State University.

Dear Tom:

Do it.

Go ahead and hire Jerry Tarkanian as basketball coach.

I have heretofore approached this matter carefully, cautiously and conservatively, just as you are, but I think it is time to acknowledge that this is the right direction for the university and the program.

Remember what you said Friday?

You called the local uproar over Tarkanian a “fantasy frenzy.”

Think of the word “frenzy.”

When is the last time you heard that word used in relation to SDSU basketball? When have you heard it used in relation to any aspect of the SDSU athletic program?

Never, not in your 14 years as SDSU president.

Boosters are calling you and boosters are writing you in support of Tarkanian. More importantly, people who have never been boosters are talking like lifelong SDSU fans.

You suggested Friday that sportswriters are feeding this frenzy by calling boosters and getting their reactions. In truth, sportswriters are doing their jobs by getting a feel for the pulse of the community. Geez, Tom, they’re helping you out. They have all day to deal with this and you have other issues on your agenda.

Then we find out Assembly Speaker Willie Brown called SDSU to lobby for the hiring of Tarkanian.

This one made you squirm a bit.

“I don’t want to get into any discussion of any kind about the speaker in any manner,” you said.

Probably did not want to discuss any matter either, maybe at any time.

You made this clear when you were asked about the Tarkanian situation.

“We don’t have a Tarkanian situation,” you said.

Excusing me, this situation you don’t have is not going to go away. This non-situation is stirring up more fuss hereabouts than putting condom dispensers on campus.

And you have handled it well. You have remained aloof. You have kept your thoughts to yourself, as well you should during the formative phases of the making of such a decision. No one really has a clue what you may be thinking about hiring Tarkanian.

Do it.

Your athletic director, Fred Miller, wants him, though he bristles at the notion he is like a Fuller Brush salesman pounding repeatedly on your door. I don’t know if Tarkanian has been endorsed by Good Housekeeping, Betty Crocker or the American Kennel Club.

I have not heard anyone say . . . Don’t do it.

There seems to be three clouds which twist themselves into a tornado where Tarkanian is concerned:

1. Academics.

2. NCAA investigations.

3. The “civil war” within Nevada Las Vegas.

You can discard academics as an issue. Tarkanian will not compromise the athletic integrity of SDSU.

Tarkanian’s UNLV teams would drub SDSU’s teams as badly in the classroom as they always have on the basketball court. UNLV graduates almost as many basketball players per year--47% overall--than SDSU graduates in a decade.

The basketball program’s academics, simply stated, have been an embarrassment to the university.

Jerry Tarkanian will address that.

The NCAA is another matter. This is an area of legitimate concern. Tarkanian has done battle with the NCAA almost since he had hair. Tarkanian has made it tougher on himself by doing battle, rather than meekly accepting whatever punishment is dealt him.

He never heard the bear would go away if you lie still.

And, Tom, you are familiar with some of the stuff the NCAA can get you on.SDSU served a brief NCAA probation in the mid-80s. Among the charges was that a professional basketball star, representing SDSU’s interests, bought a pancake dinner for a potential recruit.

Granted, there have been a few more pancake dinners in Tarkanian’s background, but the NCAA has never come up with enough on the guy to justify all the time (and money) it has spent investigating him. Given the same intensity of scrutiny, it could probably come up with similar stuff on Notre Dame.

Still, you can protect yourself and the university. You can do it contractually, including such things as clauses which defer part of Tarkanian’s salary. He would lose the deferred salary should he be a part of causing SDSU to go on probation.

Tarkanian’s current and ongoing scrap with the UNLV administration simply has to stop. If he is going to coach at SDSU, he cannot be on his cellular phone every two minutes talking about how the UNLV president and legal counsel have done him wrong.

Frankly, Tom, I think this area is the biggest concern. You have to tell him Area Code 702 has ceased to exist. Tell him to zip his lip on all matters pertaining to what was and deal instead with what is.

You get Jerry Tarkanian focused on San Diego, the community, and San Diego State, the university, and you have one great basketball coach.

Do it.

Signed, Property Owner Fantasyland