Nolan Richardson had plenty of ups and downs during his coaching career but it all turned out just fine.
Friday that journey came to an end as he was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.
“I’ve always believed that you have to have a team to reach a dream,” Richardson said during his speech. “I’m talking about a team that raised Nolan Sam Richardson. I’m talking my teachers, my coaches, junior high, high school, my college, junior college. I also played for the legendary Don Haskins, who had a lot to do with how I approached the game.”
Richardson won 508 games during his 25 seasons as a college basketball coach, the final 17 coming at Arkansas. Richardson went 389-169 as coach of the Razorbacks and led them to the only national championship in school history in 1994. Arkansas reached the title game again the following season.
Richardson played college basketball at Texas Western College, now the University of Texas at El Paso, from 1961-64 before going into coaching four years later. His first head coaching job came at his alma mater in 1978 before taking over at Tulsa in 1981.
Arkansas reached the NCAA tournament 13 times in 17 years under Richardson while advancing to the Final Four on three separate occasions.
