Saturday, December 22, 2001
Five questions with Nolan Richardson
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson recorded his 500th victory last week in a career that has spanned 22 seasons. Among those 500 was one very big one: the 1994 national championship.
Richardson took time this week to answer five questions from Enquirer reporter Neil Schmidt.
Q. If you paged back through the media guide, how many of those 500 victories would you recall?
A. I probably remember a very select few. I don't rank a lot of games more important than others, even though as a player and in our field, you get up for the really good teams. As a coach, that hasn't changed for me, so there are a few select games I would remember, yet I try to treat them all as important games.
Q. How often do you watch the tape of your national championship victory, and what's the feeling it gives you?
A. I've been very fortunate. Winning the national championship is the ultimate goal. I also won a junior college championship and I get a kick out of looking back at how we dressed and how we played. I also won an NIT championship. I haven't watched any of those games in the last year or two. When I do, it's because I have family or friends over and they want to see them.
The greatest feeling is knowing how hard you worked to get that accomplished. The feeling you have when it happens is hard to duplicate. There aren't that many people who have coached this game who have won a national championship. When you're around other coaches and they're talking about it, then you realize how nice it is. Some just wish they could get to the Final Four, and some who have made it have been there just one time. I've been blessed to have taken three teams there. That just amazes me.
Q. What was your most embarrassing moment during a game?
A. I busted my pants jumping up and down one time (at Arkansas). I was so animated, I split my pants. I always have an extra pair of pants in my locker, and this happened to be a home game, so that made it easier. I walked off the floor with coaches in front of me and behind me so no one could see.
Q. With that many years of coaching, you must have meant plenty of travel nightmares. What was the craziest trip you can recall?
A. We (he and assistant coach Mike Anderson) came home from a recruiting trip one time with one of the engines on fire. We flew in from somewhere around Neosho (Kan.) to Fayetteville with just one engine. We were looking out the window and saw it on fire, and then it was just gone. When we got back, there was a huge hole where the engine used to be. That was the most horrifying of all the trips I've been on. We saw that engine burning for 20 minutes or so, but we made it.
Q. Purdue coach Gene Keady just got his 500th career victory, too. Who wins if you'd play Gene in a game of one-on-one?
A. I would kick Gene's butt (he said while laughing). I think Gene never played basketball. He played football. He was a football player who became a basketball coach. I think he was a football player somewhere in Kansas. (In fact, Keady did play some basketball.)
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Five questions with Nolan Richardson
