Former Tarkanian assistant who helped build Rebels dies at 69

Mark Warkentien, a former longtime men’s basketball assistant of Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, died Friday at 69.

Warkentien coached at UNLV from 1981-87 before becoming an assistant athletic director at the school until 1991. During his tenure, the Rebels reached the 1987 Final Four and won the 1990 national championship.

Warkentien eventually moved to the NBA, where he found success as an executive.

UNLV paid tribute to Warkentien on the men’s basketball team’s Twitter account.

“We were saddened to learn of the passing of Mark Warkentien earlier today,” the account (@TheRunninRebels) said. “Mark was a big part of the Runnin’ Rebels’ success under Coach Tarkanian.”

Warkentien arrived at UNLV as an assistant in 1981, helping Tarkanian and the Rebels transition into the Pacific Coast Athletic Association after a seven-year run as an independent program.

However, Warkentien was also involved in one of the most infamous recruiting scandals of Tarkanian’s UNLV tenure.

Warkentien was named the legal guardian of basketball recruit Lloyd Daniels. In 1987, before suiting up for UNLV, Daniels was arrested for trying to buy cocaine from an undercover New York police officer. The incident was recorded by a local TV station who’d been covering the sting, and Tarkanian dismissed Daniels from the program.

Warkentien moved into UNLV administration following the 1986-87 season.

In 1991, he took his first NBA job with the Seattle SuperSonics. In 2009, Warkentien was named NBA Executive of the Year as the vice president of basketball operations for the Denver Nuggets after orchestrating a trade to send Allen Iverson to the Detroit Pistons and bring Denver native Chauncey Billups to the Nuggets.

He most recently worked as a special assignment advisor for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Warkentien also spent time with the Portland Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and New York Knicks.

Warkentien’s two daughters are involved in basketball as well. Kreigh Warkentien spent several years at UNLV as an assistant athletic director and director of basketball operations before leaving in 2017. She now serves as the director of family, player and staff services for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx.

Aubrie Warkentien is the director of basketball operations at UNR.

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on Twitter.