Letters: Richardson Thoughts
David Hamby, NCAA hoops expert, journalist, and one-time Pawhuskan, emails these thoughts in response to my Nolan Richardson entry:
Read with interest your comments on Nolan's recent tirade. I've got mixed emotions about the whole situation, but I'm leaning toward the side that Nolan may be close to slipping a mental gasket. Where in the world did those comments about his "great-great-great grandfather coming over on the ship" come from? I'm sure no reporter asked him about that...He's always been thorny (and rightfully so in most cases) about the issue of race. However, he's is so far off base when he talks about criticism of his program being race related. It's all performance based. His teams since the national championship in '94 and runner-up in '93 have been lackluster at best, especially during the last three or four years. The Arkansas media (specially those in northwest Arkansas near Fayetteville) fawn all over the Razorback athletic programs, and rarely take off the kid gloves when dealing with them.
I guess he's taken some flack for recruiting a majority of black players. (Which is a stupid thing to give him flack for.) But, his comments about only having white people covering his press conference is off-base. He needs to face reality that talented minority newspaper staffers are quickly snatched up by larger markets. And, from experience, I can tell you that newsrooms in Arkansas are lily white.
I respect the level of excellence Nolan brought to the programs at TU and Arkansas, but I think he may be nearing the end of his shelf life there. It sounds like he needs a break, and I think that sitting at home after an early NIT exit might be the tonic for him. That might also light the fire under him for improvements next year.
[Posted at 21:12 CST on 02/27/02] [Link]
