re: Nolan Richardson "I'm not angry anymore"

quote:

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Wasn't there a pretty large gap between when the infractions happened and 2004/2005's 2 year pass?

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The infractions started with the football team in 95 and continued until 99-2000ish.

The infractions came to light during divorce hearings.

Nutt used the "cloud of the NCAA" to make excuses for his recruiting shortly there after, a plane to Nebraska was used for a new contract and the "2 year" pass because of the previous NCAA cloud that led to a loss of 3 (or so, wasn't much more) scholarships for a couple years.

Nolan's team was going to lose 3 then 2 scholarships over a 3 year period (IIRC), this was shortly after the scholarship limit was reduced to 13 (IIRC).

Again IIRC his last year was the first year of the penalties, he too had been recruiting with that dang NCAA cloud floating around, but unlike Nutt who was being rewarded financially, he had his leeway cut and was facing tremendous pressure to win big.

If you go back and watch the Kentucky presser, it wasn't that bad, especially when you consider it is after a loss in a game he was being led to believe he had to win to keep his job. The long and short of his rant was if he wasn't meeting the expectations being set, fine pay him his buyout and find new HC.

The stuff people remember most about this time came from when he arrived back in Arkansas and was met with all the backlash. He did have a good point about the difference in his pay vs Nutt's when you compare his results in wins and championships compared to Nutt's since he was being told he wasn't meeting the performance requirements in keeping a job.

He was right a color was the cause of this, he was wrong in it primarily being the color of his skin vs the color of currency. However, it is easy to see why/how he melted down when you consider his past (remember when he played at now UTEP, there were all white teams in the SEC who would not play them, consider his early child hood years and the Jim Crowe he did live though), he couldn't see any other reason as too why he was so unappreciated by the AD, he never used other job offers to leverage more pay (like Nutt was doing), he never let other job offers get serious attention in the media, etc, he never complained about pay, he brought Arkansas more in basketball than they had ever experienced before, but all he heard was the inability to win in the tourney, the lack of academic progress by his players, etc. He was definitely being held to a different standard in all areas compared to Nutt.

The stuff he said about the fanbase is not much different than Sutton thumbing his nose at the fanbase on his way out (many who hate Nolan love and have forgiven Sutton, just an observation), the difference being is that many in the fanbase and the AD looked the other way when Sutton was recruiting players who had a solid connection to good blow, was drunk 24/7, and was caught banging coeds all over town, while many acted out against Nolan, the horse shooting incident being the most famous.

At this point in time it is best for all to bury the hatchet and move on instead of picking at old wounds. Nolan is a HOF coach, he should be respected and honored by the program he established, just like Frank is by the Football program...