Tarkanian Shares Big West Coaching Honor

Despite his troubles off the court, Jerry Tarkanian of Nevada Las Vegas was chosen Big West Conference coach of the year, sharing the honor with UC Santa Barbara’s Jerry Pimm, the conference announced Wednesday.

Tarkanian, whose team ended its season with a 26-2 record but is ineligible for postseasonplay, has received the honor seven times in 10 years.

UCSB senior Lucius Davis was named the conference player of the year. Davis, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward, averaged 21.8 points per game.

Teammate Doug Muse was freshman of the year. The 6-10, 225-pound forward averaged 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds a game for the Gauchos (20-7).

The rest of the all-conference team was junior swingman Lucious Harris of Cal State Long Beach, junior guard J.R. Rider of UNLV, senior center Elmore Spencer of UNLV, senior guard Dell Demps of Pacific and senior swingman Kendall Youngblood of Utah State.