Runnin' Rebel: Shark Tales of "Extra Benefits," Frank Sinatra and Winning It All

I have been a Fresno State team doctor for twenty years and worked with athletes primarily with medical, mental or emotional issues (I am an Internist) and have spent a number of hours with Tark and his team over 7 years, including several appearances in the NCAA tournament. I have been privy to many story telling sessions with Coach Tark as well as intense interactions at the practices and the locker room. This book may be one of the best Basketball books every written because: (1) Coach Tark does not hide in an Ivory Tower and constantly dwells among supporters, the community and anybody who wants to talk round ball. As a result he probably knows more people in Basketball than anyone. He treats everybody with dignity and respect and is one of the least arrogant people I know. He is more likely to shed tears after a tough loss rather than insults. Consequently he has a mass of stories. Secondly, his writer and editor are supurb and assure that the stories flow as a tale that should be told. Finally, he tells it without fear and I assure you the tales I have witnessed and appear in this book are niether embellished or toned down. Tark tells a story of how a fatherless, destitue first generation imigrant kid can achieve the pinnacle of his profession with hard work, committment, a lot of genius and a strong conviction not to cave into mucky-muck polital correctnes. Regardless if you see Tark as an American hero or a sketchy coach, I guarantee that if you love basketball, you will sharing this book with your friends.

This comes from a person who didn't think much of Tark the Shark. After reading this book, I have a newfound respect for the man. I don't agree with everything he said, but it was as candid a look at college basketball as you are going to find. Some of the stories were downright fascinating and others had me rolling in tears. He not only survived in the jungle that is known as college basketball, but he conquered it. This book really opened my eyes.

It doesn't matter what team you love or which teams you love to hate. "Runnin' Rebel: Shark Tales of "Extra Benefits", Frank Sinatra and Winning It All" is a must-read for all fans of college basketball. Tarkanian tosses caution to the wind and tells it like it really is. Some of these stories shatter common misconceptions about recruiting and the college game in general. Never before has this been done. I read the book from cover to cover in just one day - and I'm not even a UNLV fan. Dan Wetzel hits another home run. I recommend this book to anybody who is a fan of Tarkanian, UNLV or any other team in the nation.

Wetzel did a great job with this book, the first chapter being a real nice appetizer with the one-liner to finish it off. It then briefly goes through Tark's early life and winds through his collegiate days at Fresno St. After this, there is alot of detail on the junior college days and Long Beach State. These early sections give real insight into how recruiting was done at that time, especially in regards to race relations. You can really see how much work it took to get a 'have not' like Long Beach St off the ground. The book continues on with stories of how Tark ended up at UNLV, how his great UNLV teams got built and his epic battle with the NCAA. There are some excellent stories involving Frank Sinatra and a local person going before a gaming commision sprinkled through here. It winds down with his days in the NBA and Fresno St as well as some details on the NCAA settlement of $2.5 million he received. The book was excellent overall, but these chapters kind of felt like a downer after all the humor early in the book. There is a small section on how Tark got Anderson Hunt, and his dealings with Perry Watson (now at U. Detroit). I really feel any coach worth his salt needs to pay attention to that story - this is where you see the main reason for Tark's success: it all just comes down to beer and chicken wings.

This book is a must read for any college basketball fan. Jerry Tarkanian is a real down to earth guy. Dan Wetzel personifies that in this book. I cannot say how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book especially the humorous recruiting stories, coaching and celebrity encounters. I read 20 chapters in 2 days and was captivated by the unwritten allegations about Coach Tark until this book was published. Dan Wetzel through Jerry Tarkanian extinguishes the myth of successes of the Dukes, UCLAs, and the Kentuckys of the world in this book. If you think your favorite college basketball team is squeaky clean, check out what The Tark has to say about it in this book.