A painting honoring former University of Arkansas head basketball coach Nolan Richardson and the 1994 national championship basketball team will be unveiled at halftime during the Razorbacks’ game against Tennessee on Saturday, Feb. 2 at Bud Walton Arena.
The painting, created by artist Opie Otterstad, is part of a project commissioned by the NCAA and the National Association of Basketball Coaches to celebrate the 75th anniversary of March Madness. One painting is being created for each of the 74 national champions, with a 75th painting to be completed after the 2013 championship game.
“We are pleased that one of college basketball’s legendary coaches and a signature moment in Razorback Basketball history are being recognized as part of the 75th anniversary of March Madness,” said UA athletics director Jeff Long. “Coach Nolan Richardson helped lead our men’s basketball team to the pinnacle of college basketball culminating with the 1994 NCAA Championship. It is fitting that this work of art celebrating Coach Richardson and our national championship be unveiled at Bud Walton Arena in front of the Razorback fans.”
Following the unveiling at halftime, the painting will be on display in the south concourse of Bud Walton Arena, and will be auctioned online beginning Feb. 2. A portion of the proceeds for the auction will benefit the NABC Foundation, which supports Ticket to Reading Rewards, the College Basketball Experience (CBE) and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
Seriously, they are going to unveil a painting of the guy who sued the University, trashed its fan base etc? Pathetic of the U of A.
After Nolan sued and lied about the U of A and its fanbase, they should have erased everything at the school that had to do with him.
“If I was white, and I did what I’ve done here, they’d build statues to me,” he said in 1994, the year Arkansas won the national title. At a press conference on Feb. 25 Richardson said, “I know for a fact that I do not play on the same level as the other coaches around this school play on.” The problem with that is that Richardson was the highest-paid coach at Arkansas, making $260,000 a year more than football coach Houston Nutt.
They should have fired his ass back in 1994!!
In 1994 Houston Nutt was at Boise State. I would have hoped that the basketball coach at Arkansas was paid at least $260,000 more than the head football coach at Murray State.
No, the Feb 25 statement was made in 2002
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1025088/index.htm
Nolan of couse, leaves out how Nutt was treated better by Frank Broyles than anyone else.
That statement by Nolan is true. Just because he said it passionately doesn’t make it untrue.
Why are you so upset?
Are you permanently unhappy with something?
Because you don’t reward a racist like Nolan Richardson.
Also you don’t reward someone who:
Arkansas had an unsightly 0% graduation rate among players who entered the school between 1990 and ’94.
John you are absoluley correct. A black man being treated unfairly in the 90′s is absurd… slavery ended over 100 years earlier.
This man clearly had an alterior motive for making such statements… What was that again?
So it’s ok to reward a racist like Broyles but not one like Richardson. Why is it ok to reward one but not the other? What is your justification for the double standard?
The only issue I have with honoring Richardson is that he said “give me my money and I’ll get the hell out”. Sure, there were probably a lot of circumstances around it that nobody understands, but it looked bad the way he left. I would say the same thing about honoring a Bob Petrino.
I like Nolan. I want a 94 Razorback themed bday party.
They should name the court after him. Anybody who has a problem with Nolan has ties with Broyles. In case you forgot Nolan won a real championship in 94 outwright, 64 team was forever ago.
Nolan has done his due diligence to the U of A. Sure, plenty of comments were made when a strong personality felt he was treated wrong, and several people followed his lead. However, if you are wanting to honor any of our coaches in any way……I’m pretty sure Nolan takes the cake, unless Van Horn pulls a Champ this year.
Nolan was indeed treated poorly by Broyles, and Broyles did indeed make racial comments regarding Nolan.
For the people upset over Coach Richardson being honored, I would think that Broyles’ comments would embarrass you more than Nolan simply pointing them out.
As good as Broyles was for Arkansas sports, he was – at times – equally bad.
The tiny number of people who still spew venom towards Coach Richardson remind me of the Japanese soldiers found in Pacific island caves years after World War II. Whether they believed it or not, WWII was really over and they had lost (badly).
I’m a life long Arkansan who has followed the Razorbacks since Eddie Sutton was the head coach. I can state with absolute certainty that anybody who lacks understanding or compassion about the experiences Coach Richardson endured throughout his life and during his years at the University of Arkansas is either ignorant, deceptive, or brain dead. In the court of sports history, Nolan won decisively, and for very good reason. While I have great admiration for Frank Broyles and his contributions to the U of A, Frank’s absolute low point as an administrator was his mishandling of the best coaches he had ever hired. Nolan deserved better, and so did we.
Today should be a celebration of all the great memories, but for those mired in the muck of their own poor memories, do a google book search for Nolan’s book and read the Bobby Knight story on pages 117-118. If you can consume the accepted facts written on those two pages without softening your viewpoint on Nolan, then you are beyond hope.