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63-613: Blue Chips is a 1994 American sports drama film , directed by William Friedkin , written by Ron Shelton and starring Nick Nolte as a college basketball coach trying to recruit a winning team. His players were portrayed by actors as well as real-life basketball stars Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and cameos include noted basketball figures Bob Knight , Rick Pitino , George Raveling , Bob Cousy , Larry Bird , Jerry Tarkanian , Matt Painter , Allan Houston , Dick Vitale , Jim Boeheim , Dan Dakich and Bobby Hurley , as well as actor Louis Gossett Jr. Pete Bell,

126-510: A bachelor's degree while playing basketball. He was a head coach at the high school level before becoming a successful junior college coach at Riverside City College winning three state championships, and returned to Pasadena City College and led them to a state championship. In 1968, he moved to a four-year college at Long Beach State College . Tarkanian established a successful program built on former junior college players, who were typically considered second-rate by other four-year programs. He

189-536: A college basketball coach for the Western University Dolphins in Los Angeles, is under a lot of pressure. His team is not winning as often as it once did and his successful program needs to attract new star players. But the brightest stars of the future—the so-called "blue-chip" prospects—are secretly being paid by other schools. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate after

252-463: A pressing defense that forced turnovers to trigger its run-and-gun offense. He was one of the few early coaches to effectively use the three-point shot , which was added by the NCAA in 1986. Tarkanian recruited players that his peers often passed over, taking chances on junior college students or those with a troubled past. His players hailed predominately from urban areas , and he allowed his team

315-767: A celebrity in Las Vegas . He left the Runnin' Rebels for a brief stint coaching professionally with the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before finishing his career at his alma mater, Fresno State. Throughout his career, he battled accusations of rules violations from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), with each of his three universities suffering penalties. Tarkanian responded by challenging

378-479: A championship game in tournament history. That season, the team was heavily monitored by the NCAA, which visited their campus 11 times, and suspended 10 players at various times. The 1990–91 team appeared poised to repeat as champions after running their record to 34–0 while winning by an average margin of 27.3 points. However, a rematch against Duke in the national semifinals saw the Blue Devils prevail 79–77 after

441-470: A fast city-lot basketball without much style. Grab ball and run like hell, not lots of passing to set up the shots." Byers described UNLV's style as " ghetto run-and-shoot basketball" with little concern for defense. After being fired from the Spurs, Tarkanian sued the NCAA, claiming it had harassed him for over two decades. The harassment, Tarkanian claimed, started when he wrote a newspaper column alleging that

504-454: A favorable review of the film, writing "Blue Chips suffered because it was ahead of its time." and "Eventually, a new generation that had read none of the bad reviews (nor would probably care about them) discovered Blue Chips. It is frequently counted among the best sports movies ever made and earned new accolades in 2019 when media outlets did 25th anniversary retrospectives." The same year, Jason Guerrasio of Business Insider listed it as one of

567-437: A losing season. A school booster, greedy "friend of the program" Happy, will stop at nothing to land these star high school players for Western's next season and gets the okay from the coach to do so. This includes offering a new car to the gigantic Neon Boudeaux (Shaq), a house and job to the mother of Butch McRae, and a tractor to the father of farmboy Ricky Roe, as well as a bag filled with cash. With sportswriter Ed suspecting

630-430: A more richly developed sport world, and may also be more player-oriented or thematically complex. Often, they feature a hero of adventure origins and a clear distinction between loss and victory set against each other in a play time struggle. Thematically, the story is often one of "our team" versus "their team"; their team will always try to win, and our team will show the world that they deserve recognition or redemption;

693-421: A personal favorite, had " shaved points " in a game his freshman season, conspiring to beat a gambling point spread after carefully reviewing a video of the freshman season game depicting Tony's unusual behavior. Pete is disgusted at what he and his program have become. Western University has a big nationally televised game coming up versus Indiana, the #1 team in the country, coached by Bob Knight . After winning

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756-463: A poker player, and in the 1994 film, Blue Chips as a basketball coach. Jerry Tarkanian was married to Las Vegas city councilwoman Lois Tarkanian. They had four children and ten grandchildren. One of their sons, Danny Tarkanian , was an All-American Honorable Mention college basketball player while playing for Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV and has since run several political campaigns in Nevada. Tarkanian

819-486: A regional power. Though the schools were separated by just 30 miles (48 km), John Wooden of UCLA refused to schedule a regular season game with them. At the peak of Wooden's dynasty, the schools met in the 1971 West Regional final. Long Beach led at the half by 12, but UCLA prevailed 57–55 en route to their fifth straight national championship. Wary of continuing in UCLA's shadow, Tarkanian accepted an offer to coach at

882-446: A role as the athletic director of the college where Pete Bell is coach. Blue Chips was Friedkin's first film for Paramount Pictures since 1977's Sorcerer , the production of which had strained his relationship with the studio for years. His next three films would also be released by Paramount. Some attributed this to his relationship with the head of Paramount Sherry Lansing . Filming alongside Hardaway led O'Neal to recommend to

945-403: A scandal, Pete continues to be contaminated by demands from the players and a dirty association with the booster. His ex-wife, a former guidance counselor, agrees to tutor Neon, who has below average grades, but she feels betrayed when she realizes Pete lied to her about the new athletes receiving illegal inducements to attend the school. Pete comes to realize that one of his senior players, Tony,

1008-554: A specific moment in history like I, Tonya (2018). Examples of this overall genre/type include: Body and Soul (1947), The Hustler (1961), Rocky (1976), Hoosiers (1986), Remember the Titans (2000), Lagaan (2001), Moneyball (2011), Ford v Ferrari (2019), Ferrari (2023) and the Goal! trilogy. There have been numerous sports movies that have become award winning phenomenons. Several films have been nominated for and won

1071-448: A winning program, Nick Nolte struts and bellows in a desperate attempt to bring his character to life, and though he works up quite a lather, all he gets for the effort is sweat stains." Roger Ebert however gave the film three stars. "The movie contains a certain amount of basketball, but for once here's a sports movie where everything doesn't depend on who wins the big game," he wrote. "It's how they win it. [..] What Friedkin brings to

1134-601: Is clear that this genre is loved by many. Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Esther Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebels , leading them four times to the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament , winning

1197-440: Is working with a strong cast, but an excess of sentimentality renders this basketball drama more than a little flat." Hal Hinson of The Washington Post panned the film, writing, "The ostensible subject here is the big business of college athletics, and, just as The Program tried to do with college football , the film's purpose is to expose the corruption behind the scenes of so-called amateur athletics that have transformed

1260-655: The Orlando Magic that they select Hardaway – which they eventually did at the 1993 NBA draft when they traded No. 1 overall pick Chris Webber to the Golden State Warriors for Hardaway and three future first-round draft picks. With both on their roster, the Magic recorded the best record in the Eastern Conference in the 1994-95 regular season and made the first NBA Finals appearance in franchise history. Al Hoffman

1323-620: The University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1973. Prior to his arrival, UNLV was dubbed "Tumbleweed Tech" by locals, and their basketball program had no winning track record and minimal fan support. However, he achieved much success there, coaching the Runnin' Rebels from 1973 to 1992. In fact, it was Tarkanian's idea to call the team the "Runnin' Rebels". His teams were known for run-and-gun offense, stifling defense, and going on long runs that turned close games into blowouts. They hit their peak after joining

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1386-427: The junior college level at Riverside City College from 1961 to 1966 and Pasadena City College from 1966 to 1968. He coached teams to a record four straight California junior college championships — three at Riverside, one at Pasadena. Tarkanian moved to Division I basketball as coach at Long Beach State from 1968 to 1973, where he was among the first coaches to shun an unwritten rule that at least three of

1449-478: The shot clock or the three-point shot . However, North Carolina controlled the tempo with coach Dean Smith 's famous four corners offense , and the Rebels lost 84–83. Ten years later , UNLV was defeated by eventual national champion Indiana . Finally, in the 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Tarkanian led UNLV to the championship, prevailing 103–73 against Duke , the largest margin of victory for

1512-452: The 1976–1977 season, the NCAA placed UNLV on two years' probation for "questionable practices". Although the alleged violations dated back to 1971—before Tarkanian became coach—the NCAA pressured UNLV into suspending Tarkanian as coach for two years. Tarkanian sued, claiming the suspension violated his right to due process . In October 1977, a Nevada judge issued an injunction that reinstated Tarkanian as coach. The case eventually made it all

1575-638: The 1990 title. However, the NCAA later agreed to a compromise which deferred the sanctions until 1992, allowing UNLV to defend its title. Months after UNLV's 1991 semifinal loss to Duke, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published a picture showing three of Tarkanian's players in a hot tub with Perry. The picture had been taken in 1989, only months after Tarkanian claimed that he had warned his players to stay away from Perry. On June 7, 1991, Tarkanian announced he would resign after coaching one more season. Already banned from any postseason play, Tarkanian guided

1638-470: The 1991–92 team to a 26–2 season. He won his final game 65–53 over Utah State. Tarkanian was offered the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job in 1979, but declined, continuing to coach college basketball. Tarkanian was hired to coach the San Antonio Spurs in 1992, not long after leaving UNLV. However, he disagreed with Spurs owner Red McCombs over the need for experience at point guard . During

1701-518: The 35 sports movies to watch in your lifetime. Shaquille O'Neal was nominated for a Razzie Award for "Worst New Star". The film ranked No. 3 on Complex Magazine's Best Basketball Movies list. The film debuted at number 3 at the US box office. It went on to gross $ 23 million in the United States and Canada but only $ 3.7 million international for a worldwide total of $ 26.7 million. Friedkin later admitted

1764-691: The Bulldogs in the 1954–55 season as a backup guard . After graduating from Fresno State College in 1955, he earned a master's degree in educational management from the University of Redlands . He began his coaching career with five years of California high school basketball, starting with San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno. He then moved to Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster (1958) and Redlands High School (1959–1960). He then moved on to

1827-402: The Bulldogs to five NIT tournaments and two NCAA appearances. He retired from coaching in 2002 with 778 career Division I wins. Following his retirement, Fresno State was placed on probation by the NCAA for violations committed by its men's basketball team under Tarkanian's watch. The Fresno Bee reported in 2003 that some Fresno State basketball players had coursework completed for them during

1890-580: The NCAA was more willing to punish less-prominent schools than big-name schools. Although the NCAA did not admit harassing Tarkanian, it settled out of court in 1998, paying him $ 2.5 million. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013, an honor that fellow coaches had been saying was overdue. "Time has a way of healing things. And in this case, time worked in his favor," said Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo . The controversy from his NCAA dealings

1953-560: The Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now the Big West Conference ) in 1982, winning or sharing 10 straight regular-season titles and winning seven tournament titles. He took his UNLV teams to four Final Fours . In the first, in 1977 (only seven years after the program joined Division I), the Rebels lost to North Carolina in the semifinals. The Rebels averaged 109 points per game that season in an era before

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2016-494: The Rebels' Anderson Hunt missed a 22-foot shot at the buzzer. Tarkanian had been under more or less constant scrutiny from the NCAA for most of his career, but managed to weather the pressure until he signed Lloyd Daniels , a talented, but troubled shooting guard from New York City. In 1987 — just months before he was due to come to campus — Daniels was caught buying crack cocaine from an undercover policeman. While Tarkanian had been known for taking in troubled players, this

2079-427: The Spurs wouldn't be competitive without an experienced point guard, but McCombs disagreed. As a result, Tarkanian was fired after only 20 games with a 9–11 record. He received a $ 1.3 million settlement, which he used to fund a lawsuit against the NCAA. He returned to college coaching at his alma mater, California State University, Fresno , from 1995 to 2002 and led them to six consecutive 20-win seasons. Tarkanian led

2142-656: The Tarkanian Classic, a high school tournament featuring some of the top teams in the country. In 2014, Fresno State retired Tarkanian's No. 2 jersey from his college playing days. Tarkanian also has a middle school located in Southern Highlands, NV named after him and his wife Lois. He had small roles in the 1979 film, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh as the LA Team Coach, in the 1992 film, Honeymoon in Vegas as

2205-523: The United States. However, Jerry's father died when he was 13. By this time, Jerry showed his interest in sports, but his stepfather disapproved of his involvement with sports, while his mother encouraged him to pursue it. A graduate of Pasadena High School , he initially attended Pasadena City College in California and played basketball at the college in the 1950–51 season. Tarkanian then transferred to Fresno State College , where he played basketball for

2268-1212: The age of 84 at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he had been hospitalized days earlier after having difficulty breathing. In a tribute to him, the city of Las Vegas lowered its flags at City Hall to half-staff on that day. On February 18, the casinos along the Las Vegas Strip dimmed their lights for roughly three minutes in Tarkanian's honor.        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 Note: The record of 784–202 includes six NCAA tournament games vacated by

2331-449: The best teachers of defense in the last 25 to 30 years of basketball." In 31 years of coaching over five decades at three Division I schools, he compiled a career record of 729–201. At UNLV, 39 of his players were selected in the NBA draft ; Larry Johnson was the first overall pick in 1991 , and Armen Gilliam was No. 2 overall in 1987 . Tarkanian was an innovator who had his teams play

2394-405: The campus of the University of Southern California . Nolte actually shadowed Bob Knight during many games in 1992 to research the role. Knight appears in the film as himself but has no scripted lines. West Baden, which is the town adjacent to French Lick, is the hometown of Larry Bird , who plays a scene with Nolte at the outdoor court of Bird's home. This was actually the same court (located on

2457-521: The city, the Rebels became the town's center of attention, and their pregame ceremonies included light shows and fireworks during player introductions. His success at UNLV paved the way for other successful mid-majors . The floor of UNLV's home arena at the Thomas & Mack Center was named "Jerry Tarkanian Court" in 2005. A bronze life-size statue of Tarkanian was added outside the arena in 2013. Since 2012, Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas has held

2520-714: The film was "weak at the box office. It's hard to capture in a sports film the excitement of a real game, with its own unpredictable dramatic structure and suspense. I couldn't overcome that." Sports film The first sports film was released 1915, this was during the era of silent films. Several sub-categories of sports films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in live action, are somewhat fluid. The most common sports subgenres depicted in movies are sports drama and sports comedy. Both categories typically employ playground settings, match, game creatures and other elements commonly associated with biological stories. Sports films tend to feature

2583-618: The five starting players had to be white. He also pioneered the use of junior college athletes. University of Nevada, Reno history professor Richard O. Davies wrote in his book, The Maverick Spirit , that Tarkanian's recruiting practice drew complaints that he was running a "'renegade' program built upon less than stellar students." When the 49ers made the 1970 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament led by All-America Ed Ratliff, Tarkanian boasted that his team consisted almost entirely of junior college transfers. Long Beach State reached four straight NCAA tournaments, and established itself as

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2646-464: The freedom to express themselves. While some of those players were high-maintenance, he was the rare coach who was able to blend multiple personalities together into a team, and they played with a unique swagger. Tarkanian's teams changed the style and image of college basketball in a way that predated the impact the Fab Five of Michigan had in the 1990s. "He made the players more important than him. He made

2709-429: The game, Pete cannot bear the guilt of having cheated. At a press conference, he confesses to the entire scandal and resigns as head coach. Leaving the press conference and the arena, Pete walks past a small playground with kids playing basketball—he approaches, then helps coaching them. An epilogue later reveals that the university would be suspended from tournament play for three years. Pete did continue to coach, but at

2772-676: The high school level; Tony graduated and played pro ball in Europe; Ricky Roe got injured and returned home to run the family farm, and Neon and Butch dropped out of college, but both now play in the NBA . As well, a number of players, coaches and sportscasters had cameo appearances as themselves, including: Blue Chips was filmed in Frankfort, Indiana (arena interior) and French Lick, Indiana , as well as in Chicago and New Orleans and in Los Angeles on

2835-490: The highest award of Best Picture at the Academy Awards , including Chariots of Fire (1981), Rocky (1976), and Million Dollar Baby (2004). Other movies that received awards of a high caliber are Jerry Maguire (Best Supporting Actor, 1996), Bull Durham (Best Original Screenplay, 1988), and The Karate Kid (Best Supporting Actor, 1984). Regardless of the awards that these sports films have been granted, it

2898-449: The national championship in 1990. Tarkanian revolutionized the college game at UNLV, utilizing a pressing defense to fuel its fast-paced offense. Overall, he won over 700 games in his college coaching career, only twice failing to win 20 games, while never having a losing season. Tarkanian was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Tarkanian studied at Pasadena City College and later Fresno State , earning

2961-517: The offseason, the Spurs had lost Rod Strickland to free agency, when he signed with Portland , leaving the Spurs without a point guard with significant NBA experience. The Spurs had signed Vinny Del Negro , a combo-guard from the Italian League, to replace Strickland. They also signed NBA journeyman Avery Johnson , formerly of the Houston Rockets , to a one-year contract. Tarkanian felt that

3024-467: The organization to also investigate larger and more powerful universities. The NCAA ordered UNLV to suspend him in 1977, but he sued the NCAA and continued coaching while the case was pending. The Supreme Court ruled against him in 1988, but he remained UNLV's coach after a settlement with the NCAA. Tarkanian sued them again in 1992, and the case was settled when he received $ 2.5 million in 1998. Jerry Esther Tarkanian ( Armenian : ձեռյ եստհեր տարկանիան )

3087-560: The players the show. It was about the players first," said former UNLV assistant Mark Warkentien . According to Fab Five member Jalen Rose , "We were considered rough-and-tumble at Michigan, but it started with UNLV." UNLV was transformed by Tarkanian from a small commuter college into a national powerhouse. Demand for UNLV sweatshirts grew across the nation. He became a celebrity, and tickets to UNLV games became hot items with regulars, including Vegas headliners Frank Sinatra , Bill Cosby and Don Rickles . With no professional teams in

3150-578: The property that Bird had purchased in the early 1980s) that was used in a Converse television commercial in 1984 starring Bird and Magic Johnson . In a scene showing Nolte driving to French Lick, local radio station WSLM 98.9 FM can be heard in the car. In the final version, this scene was edited out. Blue Chips features several famous players and coaches playing themselves, Jerry Tarkanian , Rick Pitino , Matt Painter , and Jim Boeheim among them. Legendary Boston Celtics point guard and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Bob Cousy has

3213-426: The sport into a desperate money grab. But, like The Program, this strident, unconvincing bit of movie muckraking uses our national sports mania to decoy us into sitting through a dreary lecture about ethics and moral corner-cutting. What's most surprising here is that the assembled talent—from the worlds of basketball and movies—is so impressive and, still, the work is so tired. As the coach who exchanges his soul for

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3276-485: The sport they are playing and trying to get back into it. Examples and staples of the genre include The Waterboy , The Longest Yard , Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby , and Blades of Glory . Sports drama combines the sports film genre with drama film elements. These films rely on conflict, usually revolving around an athlete or a team. These dramas can further be broken up into categories, some movies focusing on race such as 42 (2013), or focusing on

3339-434: The story does not always have to involve a team. The story could also be about an individual athlete or the story could focus on an individual playing on a team. Sports comedy combines the sports film genre with comedy film elements. Traditionally, these films heavily rely on slapstick humor and very physical comedy, such as someone getting hurt in a comical way. A typical storyline may revolve around someone losing sight of

3402-419: The story is a tone that feels completely accurate; the movie is a morality play, told in the realistic, sometimes cynical terms of modern high-pressure college sports." In the years since the film was released, it has received more positive reviews. Since 2020, Rolling Stone , Yardbarker and The Athletic listed it as one of the best sports movies of all time. In 2023, Jason Diamond of Esquire wrote

3465-511: The way to the Supreme Court of the United States , which ruled in 1988 that the NCAA had the right to discipline its member schools, reversing the 1977 injunction. In the decade between the original suspension and the Supreme Court ruling, it was revealed that the NCAA's enforcement process was stacked heavily in the NCAA's favor — so heavily, in fact, that it created a perception that there

3528-444: The years 1999 to 2001. Tarkanian spent most of his career as a Division I coach in a battle with the NCAA. While at Long Beach, he wrote a newspaper column charging that the NCAA ignored improprieties at powerful schools while it pursued smaller, more defenseless institutions. After he left Long Beach State, its basketball program was slapped with probation for recruiting violations which occurred under his watch. Just months before

3591-563: Was Nolte's stand-in for the Indiana and Chicago portions of the film. The pep band that performed in the film was composed of students from Lafayette Jefferson High School, Frankfort High School and a small number of local professionals under the direction of Jeff Parthun. The film earned mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 40% of 30 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Director William Friedkin

3654-569: Was a good friend of college basketball coach Bob Knight . Tarkanian and Knight matched wits in the national semifinals of the 1987 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in New Orleans , with Knight's Indiana Hoosiers defeating UNLV, 97–93. He also started a basketball school in Las Vegas, named The Tarkanian Basketball Academy. His granddaughter Dannielle Diamant played for Northwestern University women's basketball team for three years (2009–2012). On February 11, 2015, Tarkanian died at

3717-466: Was also the rare coach who dared to start a predominantly black lineup. He compiled a 122–20 record over five years at Long Beach before moving to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He transformed the small program into a national powerhouse while granting his players the freedom to express themselves. Known for his colorful behavior and affectionately referred to as " Tark the Shark ", Tarkanian became

3780-699: Was born in 1930 to Armenian immigrants in Euclid, Ohio . His mother, Rose, was a survivor of the Armenian genocide . Tarkanian's maternal grandfather, Mickael, was an Ottoman government official who was beheaded by Turkish authorities. Mickael's son was also decapitated by the same authorities. Fearing for their lives, Rose and the rest of her siblings eventually escaped the Ottoman Empire and settled in Lebanon , where Rose met George Tarkanian. The couple married and moved to

3843-492: Was no due process. The enforcement staff was allowed to build cases on hearsay , and shared few of their findings with the targeted school. The resulting negative publicity led the NCAA to institute a clearer separation between the enforcement staff and the infractions committee, as well as a system for appeals. Also, hearsay evidence was no longer admissible in infractions cases. NCAA executive director Walter Byers famously disliked Tarkanian, and said "Tark's black players play

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3906-432: Was too much even for him, and he announced shortly afterward that Daniels would never play for UNLV. Not long after Daniels' arrest, it emerged he'd been led to UNLV by Richard Perry, a prominent gambler who had been convicted twice for sports bribery. Perry's involvement triggered yet another NCAA investigation, which resulted in the NCAA initially banning the Rebels from the 1991 NCAA Tournament, only months after they won

3969-420: Was widely believed to have contributed to the delay. ESPN wrote that Tarkanian "helped revolutionize the way the college game was played". Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown said he "influenced a lot of coaches", and coach Mike Krzyzewski added that he "taught pressure man-to-man defense as well as anyone has ever done." Upon Tarkanian's retirement, future Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun proclaimed him "one of

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