National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Tarkanian

Facts

When he became head basketball coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1973, Jerry Tarkanina inherited a team with a mediocre 14-14 record. Four years later the team won 29 out of 32 games and placed third in the championship tournament sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, to which UNLV elongs. Yet in September 1977 UNLV informed Tarkanian that it was going to suspend him. No dissatisfaction with Tarkanian motivated his suspension. Rather the impetus was a report by the NCAA detailing 38 violations of NCAA rules by UNLV personel, including 10 involving Tarkanian. The NCAA had placed the university’s basketball team on probation for two years and ordered UNLV to show cause why the NCAA should not impose further penalties unless UNLV severed all ties during the probation between its intercollegiate athletic program and Tarkanian. Tarkanian complained that he had been deprived of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights in violation of the statute.