Former Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Josh Pastner reacts in the second half of the first round of the ACC Tournament at Greensboro Coliseum. Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Josh Pastner Honors Jerry Tarkanian’s Legacy As He Looks To Revive UNLV Basketball

Originally posted on UNLV Rebels on SI
By Mark Morales-Smith | Last updated Jul 8, 2025 11:05 AM ET

New UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's head basketball coach Josh Pastner continued a trend he's followed since taking the job earlier this year. He's proven to be a true UNLV historian and expressed his love for this program and what it meant to him growing up watching basketball. To look to the future, he looked to the past and spoke about how much former head coach Jerry Tarkanian and his great teams from the late 80s and early 90s meant to the city of Las Vegas. Pastner believes those teams helped make the city what it is today, and they shaped both the past as well as the future of Vegas basketball.

Josh Pastner On Watching Those Great UNLV Teams Of The Past:

“It was a spectacle. It was showtime, like with the Lakers. Part of the reason the city is what it is today is because of that ‘80s and ‘90s run.

Josh Pastner On His Nostalgia When The Arizona Wildcats And Rebels Were The Class Of The West:

“Coach Olson and coach Tarkanian, they had the two juggernauts on the West Coast for so long. What coach Olson did for the city of Tucson and the University of Arizona is what coach Tarkanian and his staff and players did to UNLV and the city of Las Vegas.”

Josh Pastner On Vegas Getting An NBA Team

“I do believe they’ll get an NBA team. I think it’s an awesome thing. Yes, there’s more things to do, but Las Vegas is becoming the epicenter of not just the entertainment world, but also the sports world.”