Victories vindicate Richardson's faith

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

ATLANTA -- If a passerby had stumbled into the middle of Nolan Richardson's postgame interview Saturday at the Georgia Dome, he might have wondered if the Arkansas coach's job was on the line.
There was Richardson, only moments removed from the Razorbacks winning their third consecutive SEC Tournament game, and his words would have fit a man defending himself.
"I still think I'm a blue chip stock man," Richardson said. "You put money in the blue chips, eventually you're going to dip. But you'll come back. That's how I feel about myself and the way we can have a chance to win a basketball game."
The exact context of Richardson's comments was that he was trying to convey the fight that he sees in his team. But it was clear Richardson was playing a little personal defense, too, fitting because that's what he's built his basketball career on.
As Arkansas tripped along to its worst season under Richardson in 15 years, the criticism mounted, and most of it was aimed at him.
The gripe range: He had recruited poorly; he wasn't graduating players; he mistreated guard Jason Gilbert, who quit last month; and mostly he was losing games. It came from fans through radio call-in shows and, in the past few weeks, from newspaper columns.
Richardson didn't mention the criticism Saturday after a 69-67 victory over 10th-ranked LSU. But he did make a case for why he believes he's done better than most coaches.
"I just love to look at my record," Richardson said. "I see guys retiring and quitting and getting fired and what have you. And I look at the won-lost [record], and I look at how many bad seasons and how long they last and I say, 'Damn, I've been here, with junior college, [23] years and I've only had one under-.500 season."
Richardson's teams at Arkansas, Tulsa and Western Texas Junior College also have played in postseason tournaments every year but 1986, his first in Fayetteville.
"Does that tell you anything out there?" Richardson said. "If I'm an AD, I want me."
Richardson's postgame comments didn't carry the tone of a diatribe, except for the 10 minutes that he spent lecturing on the need for better parenting in society today.
Mostly, Richardson was entertaining to the audience of more than 100 media members and SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer, who allowed an occasional chuckle. Richardson sounded loose and looked even looser.
"I'm happy," Richardson said. "Why am I happy? Because these kids are proving something that I knew would happen if they stayed on the same pace and kept working."

This article was published on Sunday, March 12, 2000

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