Dick Tarrant

Dick Tarrant
	Tarrant in 1982
Biographical details
Born	September 15, 1928 (age 97); Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Fordham University (1951)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1955–1957	St. Cecilia HS (NJ)
1957–1964	Passaic HS (NJ)
1965–1969	Fordham (asst.)
1975–1978	Clifton HS (NJ)
1978–1981	Richmond (asst.)
1981–1993	Richmond
Head coaching record
Overall	239–126 (.655) (college)
Tournaments	5–5 (NCAA Division I); 2–4 (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	5 CAA regular season (1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992); 4 CAA tournament (1984, 1988, 1990, 1991)
Awards
	4× CAA Coach of the Year (1984, 1986, 1989, 1991)

Richard Joseph Tarrant Jr. (born September 15, 1928) was the head men's basketball coach at the University of Richmond^[1] from 1981 through 1993. Tarrant, led the Spiders to five NCAA tournament and four NIT berths in his twelve seasons as head coach—the first postseason appearances in school history.^[2]

Tarrant was raised in Montclair, New Jersey, and played basketball at St. Peter's Preparatory School in Jersey City, New Jersey, before transferring to Immaculate Conception High School in his hometown for his final two years in order to shorten his commute, graduating in 1946. He played collegiately for the Fordham Rams men's basketball team, where Vince Lombardi was one of the assistant coaches on his freshman team. An erroneous claim was widely published purporting that he had played for Lombardi at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey, which was later included in his collegiate coaching biography.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Under Tarrant, the Spiders gained a reputation as giant killers. In their first NCAA appearance, in 1984, they upended an Auburn team led by Charles Barkley in the first round. In 1988, they defeated defending national champion Indiana and Georgia Tech to advance to the Sweet Sixteen—the deepest run by a Colonial Athletic Association team at the time—before losing to Temple. In 1991, Tarrant led the 15th seed Spiders to an upset win over second-seeded Syracuse—the first time that a 15th seed had made it out of the first round.

In 2013, Tarrant was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.^[6] In 2015, Richmond named the playing surface at the Robins Center "Dick Tarrant Court" in Tarrant's honor.^[5] He left Richmond as the winningest coach in school history, though he has since been passed by Chris Mooney.

Head coaching record

Record table
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Richmond Spiders (ECAC South / Colonial Athletic Association) (1981–1993)
1981–82	Richmond	18–11	6–4	2nd	NIT first round
1982–83	Richmond	12–16	2–7	6th
1983–84	Richmond	22–10	7–3	1st	NCAA Division I second round
1984–85	Richmond	21–11	11–3	T–1st	NIT second round
1985–86	Richmond	23–7	12–2	2nd	NCAA Division I first round
1986–87	Richmond	15–14	8–6	3rd
1987–88	Richmond	26–7	11–3	1st	NCAA Division I Sweet 16
1988–89	Richmond	21–10	13–1	1st	NIT second round
1989–90	Richmond	22–10	10–4	T–2nd	NCAA Division I first round
1990–91	Richmond	22–10	10–4	2nd	NCAA Division I second round
1991–92	Richmond	22–8	12–2	T–1st	NIT first round
1992–93	Richmond	15–12	10–4	3rd
Richmond:		239–126 (.655)	112–43 (.723)
Total:		239–126 (.655)
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

References

↑ Feinstein, John (December 12, 1988). "Into The Limelight". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
↑ Iannazzone, Al (September 14, 2010). "Former coach Dick Tarrant keeping a hand in hoops". North Jersey. Retrieved October 9, 2010.
↑ Tober, Steve. "Richmond's Coach had IC Connection, The Montclair Times, April 7, 1988. Accessed April 11, 2026, via Newspapers.com. "It seems Coach Tarrant's bio got twisted a bit along the way, indicating that he had played high school ball under the legendary Vince Lombardi at St. Cecilia's Englewood.... In actuality, Tarrant played under Lombardi as a freshman basketball player at Fordham when the former was beginning an unheralded college cage career and the latter was more busy helping out with the Ram football team before continuing his career which would take him to West Point, then with Wellington Mara's New York Giants and finally, of course, with the Green Bay Packers. Tarrant, who played his junior and senior years at Immaculate after transferring from St. Peter's Prep of Jersey City, recently led his Richmond team into the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, upsetting both. Indiana and Georgia Tech along the way before losing to top-ranked Temple at the Meadowlands in the March 24 East Regional semifinals... He told The Times that he is actually 59 and that he graduated from Immaculate in 1946, playing alongside the likes of Al 'Sid' Hudson, Ray Ferrera, Louie Taylor and 'Chicky' Eltzholtz.... Regardless of where the information got twisted or left out, the important fact is that yes, Tarrant is from Montclair and yes, he played at Immaculate and no, he did not play under Lombardi at St. Cecilia."
↑ Vecsey, George (March 20, 1988). "Sports of The Times; A Portrait of a Late-Blooming Coach". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 3, 2023. Note that the article in the Montclair Times directly rebuts the claim that he attended St. Cecilia.
1 2 Staff. "Richmond to name Robins Center hardwood after coach Dick Tarrant", NCAA, July 30, 2015. Accessed August 12, 2016. "A native of Englewood, New Jersey, Tarrant came to Richmond as an assistant coach in 1978, and he became head coach in 1981." Note that the article in the Montclair Times directly rebuts the claim that he grew up in Englewood.
↑ "Coach Tarrant Elected To Virginia Sports Hall Of Fame". Richmond Spiders. January 14, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2014.

[1] Feinstein, John (December 12, 1988). "Into The Limelight". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2010.

[2] Iannazzone, Al (September 14, 2010). "Former coach Dick Tarrant keeping a hand in hoops". North Jersey. Retrieved October 9, 2010.

[3] Tober, Steve. "Richmond's Coach had IC Connection, The Montclair Times, April 7, 1988. Accessed April 11, 2026, via Newspapers.com. "It seems Coach Tarrant's bio got twisted a bit along the way, indicating that he had played high school ball under the legendary Vince Lombardi at St. Cecilia's Englewood.... In actuality, Tarrant played under Lombardi as a freshman basketball player at Fordham when the former was beginning an unheralded college cage career and the latter was more busy helping out with the Ram football team before continuing his career which would take him to West Point, then with Wellington Mara's New York Giants and finally, of course, with the Green Bay Packers. Tarrant, who played his junior and senior years at Immaculate after transferring from St. Peter's Prep of Jersey City, recently led his Richmond team into the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, upsetting both. Indiana and Georgia Tech along the way before losing to top-ranked Temple at the Meadowlands in the March 24 East Regional semifinals... He told The Times that he is actually 59 and that he graduated from Immaculate in 1946, playing alongside the likes of Al 'Sid' Hudson, Ray Ferrera, Louie Taylor and 'Chicky' Eltzholtz.... Regardless of where the information got twisted or left out, the important fact is that yes, Tarrant is from Montclair and yes, he played at Immaculate and no, he did not play under Lombardi at St. Cecilia."

[4] Vecsey, George (March 20, 1988). "Sports of The Times; A Portrait of a Late-Blooming Coach". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 3, 2023. Note that the article in the Montclair Times directly rebuts the claim that he attended St. Cecilia.

[TarrantCourt-5] 1 2 Staff. "Richmond to name Robins Center hardwood after coach Dick Tarrant", NCAA, July 30, 2015. Accessed August 12, 2016. "A native of Englewood, New Jersey, Tarrant came to Richmond as an assistant coach in 1978, and he became head coach in 1981." Note that the article in the Montclair Times directly rebuts the claim that he grew up in Englewood.

[6] "Coach Tarrant Elected To Virginia Sports Hall Of Fame". Richmond Spiders. January 14, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2014.

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