Dick Tarrant
Dick Tarrant (born September 15, 1930)
Teams coached: Richmond Spiders
Richmond record: 239-126 (.655)
Overall record: 239-126 (.655)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 5 (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 1 (1988)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 4 (1982, 1985, 1989, 1992)
- CAA Regular Season Champion: 5 (1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992)
- CAA Tournament Champion: 3 (1984, 1988, 2015)
Awards:
- CAA Coach of the Year: 4 (1984, 1986, 1989, 1991)
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 1981-1993 | Richmond |
| 1978-1981 | Richmond (asst) |
| 1965-1969 | Fordham (asst) |
Dick Tarrant Facts
- Dick Tarrant
- Born September 15, 1930
- Hometown: Englewood, New Jersey
- Alma Mater: Fordham University (BA, 1951)
- Graduated from St. Cecilia HS (NJ), where he was coached in basketball by legendary football coach Vince Lombardi
- Played again for Lombardi on the freshman team at Fordham, then for coaches Frank Adams and Johnny Bach at the varsity level
- Coached for many years at the high school level in New Jersey, including a stint at Passaic HS
- Also worked part-time as an assistant at alma mater Fordham under Bach and his successor, Ed Conlin
- Made the full-time move to the college game in 1978, already in his late 40s, becoming an assistant at Richmond
- He was working under Lou Goetz, one of his own former players at Passaic HS (NJ)
- Tarrant took over as the Spiders’ head coach in 1981, leading the program for the next 12 seasons
- Went 239-126 overall and reached five NCAA Tournaments and four NITs
- Won the CAA regular season title five times and the CAA Tournament three times
- Built Richmond into a nationally significant program, known for making the most of their trips to the Big Dance
- Tarrant is the only coach to win NCAA Tournament games as a 12, 13 and 15 seed
- The Spiders were the first ever 15-seed to beat a 2-seed when they defeated Syracuse in 1991
- In 1984, 12-seed Richmond defeated 5-seed Auburn (led by Charles Barkley) and then reached the 1988 Sweet Sixteen as a 13-seed with wins over 4-seed Indiana (the defending national champions) and 5-seed Georgia Tech
- Retired from coaching in 1993 at the age of 62, leaving as the winningest coach in Richmond program history
- Inducted into the Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2013
- In 1995, the CAA chose Tarrant as the “Coach of the Decade” for the 1980s
- In 2015, Richmond honored the coach by renaming the Robins Center floor as “Dick Tarrant Court”
Dick Tarrant Coaching Tree
- Kenny Atkinson (Brooklyn Nets)
- Bill Dooley (Delaware Valley, Richmond)
- Kevin Eastman (Washington State, UNC Wilmington, Belmont Abbey)
- Lou Goetz (Richmond)
- Michael Perry (East Carolina, Georgia State)
- Benjy Taylor (Tuskegee, Hawaii, Chicago State, North Central)
