Hey!
Coach Richardson
Sometimes it is not what you say or how you say it,
It’s when you say it.
By Mike Anthony
It’s when you say it.
By Mike Anthony
He is considered by many to be a great coach, having coached for 17 years at a major University and leading it to a National Championship, but the most significant number is the graduation rate of his African American players. (ZERO). I also wonder how many of his former players have been able to obtain meaningful employment? This is an astonishing finding, one of the few African American Head Coaches in Division I College Sports has a graduation rate so low that you could not find it if your life depended on it.
How did he allow this to happen and when did he start to think that it was okay to do this. What is this? This is the recruiting of basketball players who without academic guidance, structure and expectations did not have much of a chance to graduate within the four to five years of their collegiate eligibility. We have to face it, there is little motivation for some coaches to go out and find the basketball player who has plans on earning a degree. It is easier to recruit the NBA dreamers who may stay in your program two or three years before attempting to move on to the NBA. Let us face it, if they leave school earlier everyone can say you see, it is not our fault he did not earn his degree. He decided to try the next level and failed to have a back up plan. It would be too much like keeping a promise, you know the one, each prize recruit gets. “If you come to State U, you will get your degree,” I wonder if coach Richardson ever made such a promise to any of his players and if he did and they remained in school, did they get it? I have no idea. That is something for the big boys in the media world to investigate. I am simply saying where did he go wrong or did he?
I have never met Coach Richardson. I hope he is a nice man, but how does he sleep at night. Let us examine the facts from afar. Coach Richardson cried foul when the media began questioning if he should be there, had he worn out is welcome? I have no idea, but what I do know is coach Richardson has some issues that have affected his perception. Take his response while hosting a weekly talk show, after his now famous blow-up. “So what can you take away from me?" Richardson said. "I've won everything there is to win. Name me coaches that can say that. ... I tell my players, 'Don't fret for me baby.' If I get to leave the University of Arkansas, I graduated -- and I did it my way." How befitting the players are worrying about him, but does he seem to have any worry for his players, especially when he says I graduated, I wonder has or will any of his players ever be able to shout out those two words?
I am not bashing coach Richardson, but how dare you get on a soap box, when it gets a little hard, yeah people have been giving you grief for 17 years, welcome back to the party, your 17 year absence has been noticed. Coach was reactive not proactive, he had over a decade and 2/3 of another one to scream about injustice. How about the number of African American teachers on campus, this could be an issue, maybe it would have helped some of his basketball players to earn their degree, we will never know. How about screaming injustice when Prop 48 was introduced, did he boycott a game as did John Thompson (albeit, he did it against another black coach, who also boycotted, they only affected one game, but had they done it against another school not coached by an African American, they could have affected two games, but I digress). I will save that for another day). He was upset that all the reporters at his press conference were white. I am willing to bet his farm the press pool for his post games interviews have always looked that way.
The facts are simple, coach Richardson was happy living in Arkansas a member of the area country club surrounded by injustice everyday and never speaking out about what he knew or what was happening in the community, as a matter of fact, given his rate of player graduation he himself has been a party of some major injustices. Did coach Richardson speak out when the Gov. Mike Huckabee removed the only black member of the university board of trustees with a white former aide? If he says he was unaware of any such injustices or lack of diversity on campus he is really out of touch and that is more frightening that his fame style of coaching.
Coach Richardson appeared to be a coach who believed that his job was on the line and in an attempt to save it he pulled the race card from the bottom of the deck. The only sad part about it is that his complaints have a strong ring of truth, but he losses credibility when he cries foul to save his own skin, did he hear the cries of foul from his players and many others in Arkansas?
NOTE: Next week: How can they really study and play the game? I have a comment on the state of college basketball and the student athlete.
How did he allow this to happen and when did he start to think that it was okay to do this. What is this? This is the recruiting of basketball players who without academic guidance, structure and expectations did not have much of a chance to graduate within the four to five years of their collegiate eligibility. We have to face it, there is little motivation for some coaches to go out and find the basketball player who has plans on earning a degree. It is easier to recruit the NBA dreamers who may stay in your program two or three years before attempting to move on to the NBA. Let us face it, if they leave school earlier everyone can say you see, it is not our fault he did not earn his degree. He decided to try the next level and failed to have a back up plan. It would be too much like keeping a promise, you know the one, each prize recruit gets. “If you come to State U, you will get your degree,” I wonder if coach Richardson ever made such a promise to any of his players and if he did and they remained in school, did they get it? I have no idea. That is something for the big boys in the media world to investigate. I am simply saying where did he go wrong or did he?
I have never met Coach Richardson. I hope he is a nice man, but how does he sleep at night. Let us examine the facts from afar. Coach Richardson cried foul when the media began questioning if he should be there, had he worn out is welcome? I have no idea, but what I do know is coach Richardson has some issues that have affected his perception. Take his response while hosting a weekly talk show, after his now famous blow-up. “So what can you take away from me?" Richardson said. "I've won everything there is to win. Name me coaches that can say that. ... I tell my players, 'Don't fret for me baby.' If I get to leave the University of Arkansas, I graduated -- and I did it my way." How befitting the players are worrying about him, but does he seem to have any worry for his players, especially when he says I graduated, I wonder has or will any of his players ever be able to shout out those two words?
I am not bashing coach Richardson, but how dare you get on a soap box, when it gets a little hard, yeah people have been giving you grief for 17 years, welcome back to the party, your 17 year absence has been noticed. Coach was reactive not proactive, he had over a decade and 2/3 of another one to scream about injustice. How about the number of African American teachers on campus, this could be an issue, maybe it would have helped some of his basketball players to earn their degree, we will never know. How about screaming injustice when Prop 48 was introduced, did he boycott a game as did John Thompson (albeit, he did it against another black coach, who also boycotted, they only affected one game, but had they done it against another school not coached by an African American, they could have affected two games, but I digress). I will save that for another day). He was upset that all the reporters at his press conference were white. I am willing to bet his farm the press pool for his post games interviews have always looked that way.
The facts are simple, coach Richardson was happy living in Arkansas a member of the area country club surrounded by injustice everyday and never speaking out about what he knew or what was happening in the community, as a matter of fact, given his rate of player graduation he himself has been a party of some major injustices. Did coach Richardson speak out when the Gov. Mike Huckabee removed the only black member of the university board of trustees with a white former aide? If he says he was unaware of any such injustices or lack of diversity on campus he is really out of touch and that is more frightening that his fame style of coaching.
Coach Richardson appeared to be a coach who believed that his job was on the line and in an attempt to save it he pulled the race card from the bottom of the deck. The only sad part about it is that his complaints have a strong ring of truth, but he losses credibility when he cries foul to save his own skin, did he hear the cries of foul from his players and many others in Arkansas?
NOTE: Next week: How can they really study and play the game? I have a comment on the state of college basketball and the student athlete.
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