THE Shark Isn’t Hooked : First-Year NBA Coach Jerry Tarkanian Is Frustrated Enough by Spurs That He Might Consider Quitting at End of the Season

In a town noted for last stands, is Jerry Tarkanian making his?

It’s beginning to look that way, a little more than a month into his first season as a coach in the NBA. Remember the Alamo? Hey, pretty soon it might be, “Remember Tark?”

Right now, Tarkanian is wondering how he got into this in the first place.

“If I had a hobby, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said. “Fishing, tennis, golf . . . God, I hate golf.”

But Tark hates losing more, which is unfortunate for him, since he already has lost more games coaching the Spurs than he did in his last three seasons at Nevada Las Vegas. In fact, since he took team owner Red McCombs up on his offer, the Tarkanian-as-a-pro-coach saga has taken one sorry turn after another, culminating in chest pains that landed him in a Houston hospital three weeks ago.

Working on a plate of Mexican food after a practice session last week, Tarkanian acknowledged that the end of his NBA career already might be in sight.

“I would never quit during the year, but at the end of the season, I can see myself saying that,” Tarkanian said. “But I would give it a year shot. I want to give it a good try this whole year.

“If I was a young coach, you’re doing it because it’s your livelihood. This is not my livelihood. I am doing it only because I want to do it. And if I’m not enjoying it, I don’t want to do it anymore. And if I’m not winning, I’m not going to be enjoying it.”

The Spurs are trying to make it as comfortable as possible for their 62-year-old rookie coach, a lifetime college guy, by trying to win at least as many as they lose. So far they are 9-9.

It sure wasn’t like this at Las Vegas, where Tarkanian’s Runnin’ Rebels were 95-8 his last three seasons and won the NCAA championship in 1990. He resigned under the usual fire from the NCAA--and Robert Maxson, his school president--after last season.

“Why did I take this job? I wasn’t ready to retire,” Tarkanian said. “At my age, it might have been a good idea if I had retired. In reality, that’s probably what a guy should have done. I could have retired. I made enough money. I could have retired and done anything I wanted to do. I just thought I wanted to try it on this level.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way, not for the man whose .837 winning percentage (625-122) is the best among college coaches. At the same time, the Spurs aren’t supposed to be scuffling around the .500 mark either, but that’s the way it is after a series of personnel problems that cost Tarkanian three starters from last year’s 47-35

playoff team.

Power forward Terry Cummings and shooting guard Willie Anderson were injured--Cummings was lost for the season--and point guard Rod Strickland ran a fast break to Portland via free agency. As a result, the Spurs lost some of their toughness and most of their quickness, especially in the backcourt, where cast-offs Vinny Del Negro and Dale Ellis share time with Tarkanian’s pet project, Lloyd Daniels, who never played college basketball.

“I really feel bad because I was really excited about this team when I took over,” Tarkanian said. “It was my type of team. It’s totally shifted over now. It’s a half-court team now. We don’t have real quickness anywhere. Teams press us and trap us, so by the time we get into our offense, maybe 12 or 14 seconds are gone.”

Only Orlando has forced fewer turnovers than the Spurs, who also rank 23rd in the 27-team NBA in offensive rebounds, despite the formidable presence of center David Robinson.

“What’s tough is we’re not playing the way I’ve played the last 18 years,” Tarkanian said. “We played pressure defense and ran the ball up the court. We were a running team. Now I come in the NBA my first year and we’re playing half-court. We’re playing like we did at Long Beach.”

It has also taken awhile for Tarkanian to acclimate himself to the professional game. So far, his initiation has included such glitches as losing track of timeouts and having a fan holler at him that the Spurs had a foul to give.

He’s getting better, though. Rex Hughes, his top assistant and a former coach of the Sacramento Kings, said it’s normal for any NBA coach to be still learning, even if he has 10 years in the league.

“And I think he’s learning,” Hughes said. “I also think it’s a very difficult transition, even if the college guys don’t understand that there is so much coaching going on in the NBA. For instance, in college you might have one way to defend a pick-and-roll. In the NBA, most teams have six or seven different ways. College coaches don’t understand that until they get here. Then they see what’s going on.”

Besides Hughes, Tarkanian’s staff includes Tom Thibodeau, former Minnesota Timberwolves’ assistant, and Judas T. Prada, former Denver Nuggets’ assistant. Tarkanian had proposed a staff of coaches from college, but McCombs said he ruled that out.

“I didn’t tell him who to hire, but I did tell him to get people with NBA experience,” McCombs said. “I still liked the guy because his learning curve time, so to speak, would be less. He’s finding out it’s not that easy. It’s taken longer than probably both of us thought.”

Tarkanian’s recall of McCombs’ instructions on the staff is different.

“He didn’t insist,” Tarkanian said. “He left it totally up to me.”

In any event, the Spurs are producing far from Tarkanian-like results, although McCombs is satisfied he hired the right man. But he said it wouldn’t shock him if Tarkanian follows through on his hints, turns his back on the NBA at the end of the season and walks away from the last two years of his three-year contract.

“It’s been a great strain on him and has not been successful,” McCombs said. “I think he’s been surprised at how difficult it is.”

In the meantime, the man who could have lit up miles of neon on the Las Vegas strip lives in a hotel suite a block from the Spurs’ offices and HemisFair Arena. His wife, Lois, stayed in Las Vegas. Tarkanian’s temporary home has a bar, a health club, concierge privileges and free breakfast.

Most nights when the Spurs are at home but not scheduled, Tarkanian crosses the San Antonio River and visits his favorite bar, where he eats dinner and watches NBA games.

Sometimes, he drums his fingers on the table. Two of the fingers sport fat, square gold rings--one representing the 1990 NCAA title team and the other, with a diamond in each corner, Tarkanian’s four Final Four appearances.

On these occasions, when Tarkanian is watching basketball, he thinks about the games he coached. He does not remember the victories. The defeats stay on his mind.

“The losses hurt like hell,” Tarkanian said. “You know, I’m not used to losses this early. One thing I know about myself, in college or in the NBA, when you lose, it’s just miserable.”

And at the end of the season, but probably not any sooner, Tarkanian may realize he’s too miserable to stay.