Richardson Bounced
The administration at the University of Arkansas finally forced out Nolan Richardson yesterday. Richardson's comments on the racial situation in the state were probably a little out of line -- but only a little, as any thoughtful person who's been to the backwaters of Harrison (if not Fayetteville) in the last decade probably understands. The idea that Richardson had to be called on the carpet by an administration "concerned" he had harmed the reputation of the university is a little laughable. The state has earned its racial reputation over many years, and some conversation on the current state of affairs is probably overdue, even if Richardson's outburst wasn't the best way to go about it.
But, of course, the administration would rather not hurt Houston Nutt's football recruiting by having any sort of conversation like that, and so it finally had an excuse to chase Richardson, whose teams haven't been as good in recent years as they were in the mid 90s, out of town. Such dismissals don't just happen overnight -- or in less than a week. Rest assured, the administration had to have been plotting a way to get rid of Richardson for a while, and his little outburst was probably motivated as much by his recognition of that as anything.
I'm not going to defend Nolan Richardson as a perfect human being, because gawd knows I have not yet ascended to that lofty status. But he did a great job building a basketball program under some difficult (racial) circumstances at Arkansas, and probably deserved a better ending. I'm sure at some point, we'll hear his side of what went down, and that will make interesting reading.
In the meantime, I suspect Arkansas is going to have a difficult time finding someone to uphold, let alone build on, Richardson's legacy at Arkansas, especially given that the SEC has become such a serious basketball conference. Sometimes, administrators should be careful what they wish for, because they get it.
(03-03-02 Update): "He's basically being fired because folks basically don't like how he came across, and he's being fired after he apologized for it."
[Posted at 13:17 CST on 03/02/02] [Link]
