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The passing of Jerry Tarkanian, the former UNLV basketball coach, reverberated around the country on Wednesday as college basketball fans mourned the loss of the controversial figure who was mostly known for his fights with the NCAA, his great Rebel teams of the early 1990s, and his penchant for chomping on a towel.

They even mourned in Provo, although BYU's rivalry with UNLV didn't blossom until well after Tarkanian had moved on.

BYU coach Dave Rose was good friends with Tark the Shark, and knows his sons — Danny and George — very well.

"It is a sad day," Rose said at his news conference Wednesday. "I just pray for the family."

Rose got to know Tarkanian when he was a coach at Dixie College in St. George from 1990-97.

"Coach Tark really helped us at Dixie with players, especially players on the East Coast. I had a few guys at Dixie that played for me who were connected with UNLV," Rose said. "He was a fun guy to be around. I remember times where we were at clinics together and I was obviously there to listen and watch him teach his guys. We would go to restaurants after those clinics and get a chance to talk as coaches. Those were pretty special times."

Rose said he paid special attention when Tarkanian talked about his offensive philosophies, because they are similar to the ones he was developing at Dixie, and still uses now.

"It was fun for me because our offensive philosophies were pretty similar. Those teams in the early 90s, it was a two-hour drive from St. George to go down and watch. I saw a lot of those games, and he was quite an innovator," Rose said.

Speaking of coaching, legendary Provo High basketball coach Craig Drury is retiring at the end of the season. Drury was one of my favorites when I covered high school basketball for the Tribune in the 1990s and first few years of this century. His soliloquies on life and basketball after games were especially entertaining.

And he could coach with the best of them — Bingham's George Sluga, Highland's Larry Maxwell, Hillcrest/Brighton's Jim Jimas and Alta's Ron Carling.

Of course, BYU has had several of Drury's products recently, including Brandon Davies and, now, Kyle Collinsworth.

"Yeah, he taught me a lot," Collinsworth said Wednesday when asked about Drury. "He taught me rebounding especially. Just getting position and learning who to rebound, and to make defensive plays. I think that's where that side of my game comes from, is Provo High. It was an honor to play for him, and he's the reason why I am who I am today. He's a great coach."

Collinsworth was asked whether high school rivalries are still discussed now by BYU's players, given that Cougars Tyler Haws, Nate Austin and Josh Sharp played at Lone Peak, Dalton Nixon played at Orem, Ryan Andrus at American Fork and Corbin Kaufusi at Timpview.

"Yeah, we usually joke around about it," Collinsworth said. "Chase [Fischer] usually takes my side and we just joke around with Tyler about Provo beating them twice. Chase acts like he went to Provo High and we like to give Ty a hard time. But it is all fun."