After a particularly gnawing loss at the Stan Sheriff Center one night, Fresno State basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian rolled his big hound-dog eyes and sighed, "this league would be a lot more fun if I didn’t have to come over here every year."

As he said that, a departing fan yelled an epithet his way.

"But, then, it wouldn’t be as much fun for the fans," Tarkanian said with a wry smile.

More than any visiting coach who trod the sidelines here, "Tark the Shark" was the fans’ favorite villain. Whether he wore Fresno State red, Long Beach State gold or Nevada-Las Vegas gray, he was always, symbolically at least, the coach in the black hat.

It was a notoriety built up over 30 years of playing UH, one chewed towel at a time. 

Tarkanian, who died Wednesday in Las Vegas at age 84, was a character and a showman who brought out the ferocity of fans here in ways rarely matched by other coaches.

Brigham Young’s Roger Reid, Texas Christian’s Billy Tubbs and Utah’s Rick Majerus were all despised but rarely inspired the level of fury of Tarkanian. 

A lot of it was frustration in seeing Tarkanian go 25-8 against UH on his way to 729 victories in a Hall of Fame career. No loss was more painful than the 85-83 NIT quarterfinal game here in 1998 that sent the Bulldogs to Madison Square Garden.

As much as North Carolina’s Dean Smith, who also died this week, was respected and revered, Tarkanian was reviled.

When UH and (fill in the blank) Long Beach State, UNLV or Fresno State were most at each other’s throats, trading jump shots and scowls, Tarkanian merely had to stand up to draw fans’ ire. His Maalox moments brought cheers. 

When he deigned to come off the bench and plead with an official, it was as if the vocal majority on hand booed or shouted in unison. 

It was why Fresno State, under Tarkanian, had more sellouts at the Sheriff Center than any other opponent, including two in 1998.

Much as he was scorned, Tarkanian often said he liked the fans’ passion and appreciated that the crowds responded to good performances by his players, too. 

Part of what made Tarkanian such a lightening rod was the hugely talented but often over-the-edge players he attracted and the headlines they made. 

Some years his teams had multiple Parade or McDonald’s High School All-Americans — and as many with rap sheets. One season in the late 1990s he had a former prison guard travel with the team as an untitled chief of security.    

Fans were fond of holding up signs like "Felony State University" or "Firearms and Samurai sword U" when Fresno State came to town.

It seemed to only stoke the competitive fires of players such as Chris Herren, who once jumped atop a courtside table to shout back in triumph. Tarkanian just smiled.   

But Tarkanian was also admired in some quarters for his unyielding battles with authority, be it the powerful NCAA or just the Western Athletic Conference.

The lengthy war with the NCAA actually won him sympathy. Though, Tarkanian observed, maybe the NCAA was the only entity they hated more than him. 

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.