European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday. March 22,19bb the stars and stripes Page 25 commentary portrait of a late Blooming coach he played basketball for Vince Lombard and he scouted for Bobby Knight and now he has Delat de Knight 31 a coach. In Between Dick Tarrant laugh in High school and had holes in my  Asa teacher tamil liked what Rodney Rice said after Rice s go ahead Basket in Richmond s 72-49 Victory Over Indiana the defending Nali Ontl Champi on on Friday. Nice game plan  the 58-year-old coach with the Gray brillo curb bad Sci iral Tod another excellent coach named Knight and his players gave him just a Little bit More at the end. Is everybody Here surprised asked or tight Gra Cious As he often is in defeat. I m not surprised. I Laid you it would be an even game. Dick Tarrant was a Good coach before i started coaching. Sunday Tarrant s spiders ambushed Georgia tech 59-55 to Advance to the East semifinal. In All those years coaching High school in new Jersey he Jay Joisey with a Wink Taiwan did what other High school Lett Char with three chit Drin do he coached in his spare time and went Back to school for his master s degree in guidance. Now people Are mentioning his name for the vacancy at Rutgers in his Home state but he lives the Good life in Virginia near his three grandchildren where the Golf season Lasis a few weeks longer at Boll ends. We just built a House Tarrant said. No one has called me. I won t Call them. Even if they Call me. Not at my age i m Happy Down  Tarrant was a Jersey Guy before Bruce Springsteen ii add it fashionable. His Odyssey began in the mod est gymnasium of St. Cecilia High in Englewood where his coach was a Nigger Farmer football line Man from Fordham. He d get right up in your face with those big i Cath spit flying Tarrant recalled with evident great Lave. The basketball coach was also the football coach. He Taug lil basketball out of a primer he had taken out of the Library at St. Cecilia a Boot written Back in the 20s, would you ill Vince Lombard they Don t have the Center jump anymore of my heavens Tarrant said he was such a football fanatic that he d Knock off practice and work on  Tarrant went to Fordham put in four years in the marines coached at St. Cecilia and Passaic highs and then took an assistant Job at Fordham which Rie thought cured him of College Ball forever. No i to Rich Emfs Dick Thant Defeated Bobby Knight. Still leaching full Lime he charged s5d to file Basic report on teams he scouted in Madison Square Garden. Sometimes he would Send carbons to other paying clients one of whom was Bobby Knight. I was fascinated by what he had done up at Westpoint Tarrant said. After six years of scouting Tarrant went Back to coaching at Clifton High but fearing Job cutbacks he accepted an assistant s Job at Richmond under a former player of his Lou Goelz. Tai acc years later according to Tarrant Goelz figured  i be had enough of this craziness and resigned before the season. Tarrant was asked to coach for one year while the school searched for anew head coach. Their ultimate Choice was inc 50 year old former English teacher from  All those years of scouting All those years of handing in the corridors watching other coaches bad not been lost on this studious Man. He began working the East coast taking players who were respectfully ignored by Terry Holland and Dean Smith and Lou Cam Necca. There arc limits Tarrant said. Academics Are part of it. We re not on National television. Oar league  there arc enough players from new England to he Carolina for Tarrant to fill up a squad with Ken Atkinson and Peter Woolfolk and Rodney Rice an Steve or Alzor players who did not want to sit in the big East or inc Atlantic coast conference when they could play in the colonial athletic association. We Are always disciplined always pre pared said Atkinson the guard from Northport,. Last year he gave us a complicated game plan against Navy and we had one Day to walk through it. The next Day we held David Robinson to 8 Points. The other Day we went to a Triangle and two in the last minute against Indiana. I thought what the Heckt when Indiana and Richmond took the court after a run and gun Yawner Between Georgia tech an Iowa state suddenly you could hear the squeak of 20 sneaker a sure sign players were running real live plays Tarry Rel j vision includes scheduling lop schools 10 Richmond will have Crudi Billy at tournament Lime. He has adjusted from a Pete Newell advocate who used Only a Man to Man defense to a coach who can switch zones in the final minute against Bobby Knight. And when he needed a Basket he would not Call a timeout and set up a specific snot. Tar ant declined to Call the Victory Over Indiana the High Point in his career Richmond beat Auburn with both Chuck person and Charlrs bar Kulcy which still gives me chills. And Tarrant wanted to save some initiative for Bobby Crimins sunday when he reached his next goal inc Region Al semifinals in the Meadowlands on thursday. I won t mind getting Back to Josicy and seeing some of my old cronies the old Tracher mid but Only for the weekend he snid. Even if his old state University should Call him. He says he s too old Rutgers might want to ask Knight about that. Tin a you Tim Kruk s got it almost All wrong by Dennis Georgatos Puma Ariz. A there s nothing right about the Way John Kruk swings his Bat except the Gnu result. He s one of those hitters with a unorthodox swing who seems to have All Lite wrong mechanics but Siil eels the right results. When Johnny does it it just comes out Rich said Amos Otis the san Diego padres batting coach. A left handed Hitler Kruk 27, holds his Bat in a curious Arch toward the Pitcher and twirls it in semicircles while wailing for the pitch. He goes through a mini contortion when he unwinds from his closed stance to swing. "1 know a lot of people can t hit like i do because i do everything wrong said Kruk. A .300 Hitler id each of his two seasons with san Diego but it s comfortable for Kruk and while Otis winces at Kruk s style he has no desire to change it. You Don t really want to change any body s swing who s successful Otis said you refine what they have. One of his biggest problems is pulling off the Ball when he tries to hit Home runs Down the right Field line. If he keeps the Ball and his swing out in front of him Johnny s going to hit ,300 every  Kruk who is enjoying a productive Spring with a .393 average first achieved a ,300 batting average in his second year in professional baseball while playing for the padres class a farm club in Reno nev., in 1982. That s when Jack Maloof. Then the Reno manager and now a roving minor league instructor for san Diego convinced Kruk to 0 with the unorthodox stance. It turned my career around. Before then 1 used to change my stance with every Pilch said Kruk who has batted at lust .300 Tor six straight years four in the minor leagues and the past two in san Diego the padres probable cleanup hitter this year Kruk led san Diego with 20 Home runs in 1987, he finished last season with 91 Bis and a .313 average fourth Best in the National league and emerged As the padres everyday first baseman after an Early season injury to Steve Garvey who retired in january. Kruk credits close Friend Tony Wynn who led the major leagues with a .370 average last season with helping him to hit big league pitching consistently since Kruk bulled his Way onto the padres roster in i9g6 after batting .465 during Spring training. He knows when i m hitting Good Ilia i m doing right and he knows when m going bad what i m doing wrong Kruk said of Gwynn. The Little things Tittl i m doing he notices he s helped merlot. White the padres like Kruk s Bat in he lineup they remain concerned about his defense and his reputation As the club House Clown. He s got that Carefree Altitude and sometimes he gives you the wont impression san Diego manager Larry Bowa said. Sometimes he gets carried away with that and i think that detract sometimes from his  Kruk said he is cutting Down on the jokes As part of a More serious approach to the game in 1988. I think when 1 was in the minor leagues earlier it Hurt me because they thought i did t care Kruk said of his fun Loving nature. I can still have fun All the time because this is a kid s Gam but i know now when to be serious an outfielder most of his career Kruk did t play first base until after the i98s season when padres management asked him 10 team the position while playing Winter Ball in Mexico. He still a Diu to having problems defensively particularly with run Down plays and digging throws out of the dirt but he has committed himself to working on those problems during Spring train  be been working on them everyday and they say with repetition you get bet Ter so pm looking to improve on thai Kruk  m not going to be a Steve Garvey. Who is Kruk said of the former All pm photo pad Rev Jtj hotter John Kink. I do everything wrong Star who retired As the Best Fielding first baseman in major league history. I feel Good about the things i can do and what i can t do we re working on alot out Here this