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Tark the Shark is dead. Long live Tark the Shark. Jerry Tarkanian, the legendary college coach who helmed the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels during their glory days is dead. He was 84.

Reports the New York Times:

Jerry Tarkanian, who built Nevada-Las Vegas into a national powerhouse in college basketball with an insatiable will to win, created the persona of Tark the Shark and ignited a long-running feud with the N.C.A.A. over accusations that he ran outlaw programs at three different universities, died on Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was 84.

His son Danny announced his death via Twitter.

Tarkanian was taken to Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas on Monday with low blood pressure and an infection, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. He had a second heart attack in April 2014 and was treated for pneumonia in November.

Tarkanian was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., in September 2013, two months after he underwent heart surgery. His induction speech, read largely by his wife, Lois, was recorded in advance. He spoke briefly, in a weak voice, when he appeared on stage at the ceremony, using a walker.

Tarkanian was one of the college game’s most successful and colorful coaches in his 19 seasons at U.N.L.V., a baldheaded, sunken-eyed presence on the bench nervously chewing on towels during games. In his 31 years as a major college coach, he won more than 700 games, fashioning a high-scoring running game and smothering defensive play while recruiting junior-college players that other coaches had ignored.

Some of the legendary players that found a home and became stars while being coached by Tarkanian include Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony and Rafer “Skip To My Lou” Alston.

Rest in power Jerry Tarkanian.

Photo: WENN.com