OT: Really interesting interview/story on Nolan Richardson
Posted: Fri Jun 3, 2011 8:28 pm
http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_0 ... w.mp3/view
I listen to 'The Story' on public radio a lot, and there was a recent episode on Nolan Richardson. Besides being a successful college coach, he's also the guy that railed out against discrimination in a press conference and subsequently got fired at Arkansas.
At the time, I only saw a sound bite and thought he might have just sorta snapped- how could such a successful coach be discriminated against by his own university? But it's a good episode to listen to- he sounds like a genuinely good man, and one who has had to endure a lot of challenges in his life due to discrimination. The interview doesn't go into specifics, but it definitely provides another voice to the circumstances around his firing.
There's a intro bit about him starting a end-of-the-bench reserve against Duke (guarding Grant Hill no less!) in the NCAA title game, cool story as well. He realized at one point that everyone on the team had played at some point in the tournament except for this one player. He felt bad about it, and decided to start him in the title game- probably not long minutes of course, but a really interesting gesture!
I listen to 'The Story' on public radio a lot, and there was a recent episode on Nolan Richardson. Besides being a successful college coach, he's also the guy that railed out against discrimination in a press conference and subsequently got fired at Arkansas.
At the time, I only saw a sound bite and thought he might have just sorta snapped- how could such a successful coach be discriminated against by his own university? But it's a good episode to listen to- he sounds like a genuinely good man, and one who has had to endure a lot of challenges in his life due to discrimination. The interview doesn't go into specifics, but it definitely provides another voice to the circumstances around his firing.
There's a intro bit about him starting a end-of-the-bench reserve against Duke (guarding Grant Hill no less!) in the NCAA title game, cool story as well. He realized at one point that everyone on the team had played at some point in the tournament except for this one player. He felt bad about it, and decided to start him in the title game- probably not long minutes of course, but a really interesting gesture!