Notes from “Notes” Richardson
Nolan “Notes” Richardson III, son of former legendary Arkansas basketball head coach Nolan Richardson, made headlines five years ago when it was reported the then-Tennessee State basketball coach brought a gun into the TSU arena during a practice on Christmas night of 2002.
Now, someone claiming to be the former Arkansas assistant and Tennessee State coach says the school’s athletics director lied to the media about the gun incident in a blog on FanNation.com.
Richardson’s blog, according to the Web site, was launched one month ago.
Richardson says assistant coach Hosea Lewis inexplicably attacked him with a bag filled with scoreboard chains and punched him in the neck after practice on Christmas night 2002.
“… I want to make it very clear, I NEVER took a gun into the complex,” the person claiming to be Richardson says in the blog. “I went back into the complex without a weapon, I did not look for Mr. Lewis and I did not go inside the gym area where Mr. Lewis had attacked me.”
The blog post is very hard to read and follow, as you will find out if you follow the link above. Richardson rambles on about the incident in his 3,946-word blog titled “My Turn,” and chronicles the events of Christmas night through his resignation Jan. 8, 2003. He focuses most of his time on athletics director Teresa Phillips in the latter third of the blog.
“Mrs. Phillips was the contact person to the Press and reporters had incorrect information given to them. Even quotes that I had written for campus security, when I thought I was writing documentation for Mrs. Phillips to fire Mr. Lewis, were inaccurate and in the Press as my written statement to police.”
According to media reports, “Notes” said in a statement to police that he brought an unloaded gun from his car to the gym to confront Lewis.
Richardson told campus police Lewis hit him with a gym bag, which contained some chain for a scoreboard. “Then he said, ‘Come on.’ Then I said, ‘OK, I’ll be back,’” Richardson wrote in his statement to police. “Went to my car to get a crowbar and saw my gun there and I took it. But it had no clip or anything.”
The whole situation is pretty convoluted, especially after reading Richardson’s detailed, yet messily written account of the events that led to his resignation.
Richardson was also punished for NCAA violations 10 months after his resignation, which, you guessed it, the former coach blames on one of his former assistants in the blog.
Richardson was an assistant at Arkansas under his father, Nolan Richardson, for 10 years before he took his first head coaching gig with Tennessee State in April 2000. He finished with a 23-41 record at the school.
7 Responses to “Notes from “Notes” Richardson”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Must have been a slow sports day. Brandon, I for one want to read about the Razorbacks and their efforts to build the program. Why do you guys feel it is news to constantly search for and print this type of material. Yesterday, it was reported that Nolan was finally trying to put his demons behind him and begin to re-join the Razorback community. Today this! You guys need to realize that a good many of your readers are growing weary of this and begin to make a much stronger effort to show your support . College sports shouldn’t be an avenue for the press to dwell so deeply into the lives of it’s players and coaches. He did what he did, was punished for it, and now it seems must crawl into a hole to keep you guys off him. I bet you’ve spent much more effort trying to find out what Charles Thomas did than trying to find out who our next DC will be. PLEASE, make an effort to be an asset to Arkansas sports, not a pain in it’s side.
Most pointless article I have ever read. Who cares? Hogs play Miss st. tonite. You have cut into my pregame time by putting this dribble out for me to read.
I agree with the previous two posts. I don’t necessarily expect the state writers to be homers but who gives a rat’s rear about this? And as far as Charles Thomas’ suspension is concerned, it’s like I said yesterday, it’s between him and HIS coach and HIS coach handled it with guts and class. Write about sports. Otherwise, try to get a job writing for Soap Opera Digest.
Homers might be a bit strong, but I believe the fans of this state have every right to expect the kind of positive coverage necessary to recruit and compete successfully. Pretty much everyone outside the state is for their teams, we’ve got to be for ours too. Arkansans pay for the ads and buy the suscriptions, why can’t we expect a little favoritism! Regardless, prying into these peoples lives on a sports page is classless.
“I believe the fans of this state have every right to expect the kind of positive coverage necessary to recruit and compete successfully”
Ensuring a positive recruiting atmosphere is not the media’s job, nor should it ever be.
A media slant is never a good thing, no matter which way it leans.
Thank you Robyn for your reply to my post. I admit that my words seem to imply a wish for a positive slant to statewide press coverage. What is wrong with that? The vast majority of your readers are fans of Arkansas teams, they want the best for them. I see nothing wrong with that. Personally, my perception of things is that we are all to often beaten down, especially at the most inopprotune times. Sportswriters do have a right to print whatever their employers will allow. My point is that you are selling a service, we are paying for it, and with enough encouragement from your readers we CAN get a positive slant to our sports coverage. KATV for example, never carries the nitty-gritty details of every negative story they can find and they do just fine, Their honored for their stories, can’t see anything they lose that the detractors are gaining. As for the specific subject of diving into the private live of our Teams, NOCLASS period and it needs to stop!.
…and sometimes, like it was several years ago when coach Richardson was at the peak of his game, media types often hide behind the power of the pen to accomplish their own objectives. This may not be the case with this article but lets not be so naive as to believe that everyone in the media loves sports anymore than every faculty member at the UofA supports the Razorbacks. The bottom line is that coach Pel handled this appropriately and with class. It is a matter between him and his player, unless of course Thomas broke a law and then it becomes the public’s RIGHT to know.