Nolan Richardson

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Nolan Richardson
Title	Head coach
Sport	Basketball
Born	December 27, 1941 (1941-12-27) (age 66)
Place of birth	El Paso, Texas
Career highlights
Overall	508-206 (.711)
Championships
1994 NCAA title 1981 NIT title 1980 NJCCA title
Awards
1994 NABC National Coach of the Year [1] 1994 Naismith Coach of the Year
Playing career
1960–1964	Texas Western
Position	Forward
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1968–1978 1978–1981 1981–1985 1985–2002 2005–2007 2007–present	Bowie High School West Texas Junior College University of Tulsa University of Arkansas Panamanian National Team Mexican National Team

Nolan Richardson (born December 27, 1941) is an American basketball head coach, most recently with the Mexican National Team. He previously coached college basketball coach at the University of Tulsa and the University of Arkansas and won the NCAA title with the University of Arkansas in 1994 and was runner-up the following year.

[edit] Biography

Richardson was born in El Paso, Texas, United States. He played collegiately at Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso, playing his senior year under the school's new coach, future Basketball Hall of Famer Don Haskins.

Richardson began his coaching career at Bowie High School in El Paso, Texas. He then moved to Western Texas Junior College, where he won the National Junior College championship in 1980. He was the head coach at Tulsa from 1981 to 1985, leading Tulsa to the NIT championship in 1981. In 1985 Richardson became the head coach at the University of Arkansas, where he gained national recognition.

Richardson took the University of Arkansas to the Final Four three times, losing to Duke in the semifinals in 1990, winning the National Championship in 1994 against Duke, and losing in the Championship game to UCLA in 1995. He was named the National Coach of the Year in 1994. His teams typically played an up tempo game with intense pressure defense - a style that was known as "40 Minutes of Hell." He is the winningest coach in Arkansas history, compiling a 389-169 record in 17 seasons. He is the only head coach to win a Junior College National Championship, the NIT, and the NCAA Tournament.

In February 2002, Richardson spoke out against the administration at the University of Arkansas and its fans. He claimed that he was being mistreated because he was African American, and challenged Athletic Director Frank Broyles to buy out the remainder of his contract. Shortly thereafter, Arkansas dismissed Richardson as head coach. In December 2002, Richardson filed a lawsuit against the University, the Board of Trustees, and the Razorback Foundation, citing a racially discriminatory environment. Coach Richardson's lawsuit was dismissed in July 2004.

Richardson was raised in El Paso's "Segundo Barrio" or "Second Ward", and speaks Spanish fluently.

From 2005 to 2007, Richardson served as the head coach of the Panamanian National Team. In March 2007, Richardson was named as the head coach of the Mexican National Team, hoping to get them to the Olympics, where they have not been since 1976.

[edit] References