I have written in the past about one of today’s inductee’s and how much he deserved to be honored. Jerry Tarkanian and I were roommates in college, so I have a special spot in my heart for him. I was his assistant for a year at Riverside City College. We were 37-0 and won the California State Championship.

If you added up all the games he coached (high school, junior college and college), his winning percentage might be the all-time best or close to it. His formula? Practice hard, play hard and keep it simple. And oh yes, get good players. (I used to hear the great John Wooden say that all the time).

Another coach who has always been special to me is Guy V. Lewis with the University of Houston. I heard coaches in the stands disparaging his coaching during his career. Of course, it was them who were watching the Final Four and Houston from the stands.

Here’s what I do know … he played my UNLV teams in Las Vegas two years in a row when he had nothing to gain in playing our D-II team on the road.

We had two games where we turned 1,000 people away who originally came to see Houston play and continued to come to see us play. The Las Vegas crowd could see that big-time basketball had come to town.

The most important thing I want to say about Guy V. is that he is one of the finest gentlemen I have had the good fortune to know. Here was how I perceived his coaching style – good players that played their asses off for him. The Southwest Conference was soft until Houston joined it and Guy V. toughened them up.

Get your copy of Coach Rolland Todd’s book, “The Art of Losing: Coaching and Thriving In a Made For TV World,” at lulu.com.