Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 4, 1994 TAG: 9404040016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
In the 56th NCAA Tournament championship game, though, Duke won't be the only one with a weight problem. Nolan Richardson has one of his own. The chip on the shoulder of the Arkansas coach is about the size of Corliss Williamson.
While the Razorbacks play for their first NCAA basketball title at the Charlotte Coliseum, it sounds as if Richardson is playing for something more subjective.
On the eve of his program's biggest game, Richardson said he and Arkansas aren't respected. With a sublime team, Richardson is being ridiculous.
This from a coach whose team spent more of the season than any other team ranked No. 1. This from a coach who has been named national coach of the year by three organizations. This from a coach who "is highly, highly respected," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Richardson said his race engenders this lack of respect. He said it's a "perception," but is it how others perceive him or how he perceives himself? Has Richardson been the underdog so long that he doesn't know how to play the favorite?
He's trying to become the second black coach to win a Division I basketball championship. He said black coaches are referred to as great recruiters and great motivators "and then it stops."
"There's a stigma," he said, "and it's clear and loud."
If it's loud, it's because of Richardson. Nobody ever said John Thompson couldn't coach, that he didn't have discipline in his Georgetown program, that he didn't nurture his players and his program that won the 1984 NCAA title.
There is no question that Richardson's race has been playing catch-up for too long. His personal story has movie script written all over it.
He was raised by his grandmother in tough times in western Texas. He played and coached in junior high, high school, junior college and major college. He starred for coach Don Haskins at Texas Western - now Texas-El Paso - before the Miners shocked college basketball with their 1966 NCAA title.
He's lost a daughter, Yvonne, to leukemia. If the Razorbacks win tonight, he will have achieved a rare coaching triple - a national junior college title at Western Texas in 1980, an NIT crown at Tulsa in 1981 and an NCAA crown.
He had tryouts in the American Football League and the American Basketball Association. He's taken a very good Arkansas program built by coach Eddie Sutton to another level. He's done it with defense and discipline.
The Razorbacks don't wear earrings. It's Richardson's rule. On road trips, they wear suit coats and ties. It's Richardson's rule. They don't wear black basketball shoes. It's Richardson's rule.
Richardson, 52, has a fandom that's as wild as any in college athletics. He's got the President of the United States on his mailing list. Fayetteville, Ark., may be off the beaten path, but the Razorbacks' new Bud Walton Arena is a Hog heaven where sellout crowds are treated to "40 Minutes of Hell."
As even the rabid Razorbacks coach said, "Where else in this country when there's a divorce are they fighting over the tickets and not the kids?"
Richardson said he has paid his dues, but that's stating the obvious. He said his program doesn't get attention some others get, but he admits programs such as Duke and North Carolina "have put themselves in that position."
Richardson said he is where he is today because several white men "took chances" by hiring him, and he seized those opportunities and outworked many peers. His next opportunity may be to win consecutive NCAA titles. The Razorbacks don't play seniors (Roger Crawford suffered a broken ankle in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and Ken Biley plays sparingly). They'll be the preseason No. 1 team next season.
"My grandmother told me, `Know where you come from, and if you don't like the road you are traveling, then make your own road,' " Richardson said.
He's on the highway to success. How long he'll stay on it, he's not sure. He has five years left on his contract, and he's not sure he wants to be running baseline to baseline - which he does in practice - with sweaty Hogs at age 60.
Richardson said the Razorbacks live by the Five P's - "Preparation prevents p--- poor performance." Then, there's that sixth "P," perception, and more. Arkansas thrives on pressure and power and plays with pizazz.
The Razorbacks' coach doesn't need to stand on a soapbox. He wants to be taken seriously, then he wears Razorback red cowboy boots on the sideline. But seriously, he has shown he can coach this season.
In 1990, the jury was out. He had a team that included future NBA players Lee Mayberry, Todd Day and Oliver Miller, and was pounded by Duke in the Final Four. He has come back with the nation's best team, a new team.
The Razorbacks can go inside or win with the 3-pointer. They're big, quick and deep.
"When teams play hard and know how to use players the way Nolan does, that's big," Krzyzewski said. "Some people don't handle having that kind of depth well. That's a team that plays 40 minutes of very intelligent basketball."
So, on a day when Richardson had the time and the audience to get the kind of attention he said his basketball program doesn't get, he talked about his perception of perceptions. He shot himself right in those red boots.
Richardson's a very good coach with a very good team. His attitudes, just like his records, accomplishments and titles, are significant.
Appropriately, they're in black and white.
by CNB