College athletics finally getting some stability?
- By mikedamone
- The Trough
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Trending that way.
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Do college football coaches think new enforcement arm will work? LSU's Brian Kelly: 'It is not a slap on the wrist'
The new power conference-led enforcement entity is poised to implement significant penalties for those breaching the rules around rev-sharing with players, including fines, suspensions and more.
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Hoops Former players, coaches remember Nolan Richardson's legacy
- The Trough
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Former players, coaches remember Nolan Richardson's legacy
Former Arkansas players and coaches under Nolan Richardson recount memories and lessons they learned from the legend.
Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer and former Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson is a giant in the world of basketball. He brought the Razorbacks their only national championship in 1994, its patented "40 Minutes of Hell" playing style and to date, he is still the only coach to win a junior college national championship, the NIT championship and the NCAA Tournament national championship.
As his reputation easily speaks for itself, the legend of Richardson remains among the largest in the sport, despite not actively coaching for years. Between the time Richardson took the head coaching job at Arkansas in 1985 to now, many stories have made their way across the state about the kind of coach and person Richardson is — hard-nosed, aggressive, full of tough love — but ultimately, he is a winner on and off the court.
In wanting to provide a written record of some of these amazing stories of the most legendary figure in Arkansas basketball history, HawgBeat aimed to compile a list of oral accounts from Richardson's former players and coaches, discussing their favorite memory, most important lessons learned and one thing they would tell Richardson.
Over the course of talking to these former players and coaches, the initial three-question angle expanded. These integral figures in Richardson's life and career made asides, stating that certain facts must be known and certain stories must be told.
As a result, over the course of six months, HawgBeat compiled over 20 hours worth of interviews with former Razorbacks of all different roles.
Leading scorers, role players, walk-ons, assistant coaches — each experience unique, but similar as a whole. There was no shortage of love and respect for Richardson, and no shortage of admiration in how he navigated the endless struggles he did.
Because this piece continued growing, many quotes had to be cut for spacing. Each figure who was interviewed is featured in this piece, but not every answer is given in its entirety. Those might see the light of day in a bigger project down the road.
For now, enjoy a walk down memory lane, read stories that are largely unknown by the public, and hear from some Hog legends and fan favorites — some of which the fanbase might not have heard from in years.
If you are a former manager, assistant, or player under Nolan Richardson and would like to share some of your own personal experiences and memories, please contact Jackson Collier at jacksoncollierauthor.com or on X at @jacksoncollier.
FAVORITE MEMORIES
Mike Anderson - Arkansas assistant coach 1985-2002; Arkansas head coach 2011-19
“Well, probably my first impression is probably one of my favorite ones. I played for Jefferson State Junior College out of Birmingham, Alabama, and we were one of those teams that had kinda got hot in 1980, and Coach Richardson was coaching at Western Texas Junior College. Obviously, his team was one of the top junior college teams in the country, and here we are playing against this great team and this coach comes out — very flashy, open-collar shirt, gold necklace, booming voice, I mean built like an Atlas dude. And here we are playing against them. His demand and how his team played, it impressed me so much.“They beat us in the junior college championship game, and I was so impressed with him being in that position as a head coach. He was one of the first black head coaches at the junior college level in the state of Texas. Then he got the job at the University of Tulsa, and I couldn’t beat him, so I joined him. The rest has been history.
“What people don’t realize is that I’ve been probably a part of all the championships that he’s won. He won the junior college championship game, I’m playing against him. The very next year, we go to Tulsa and he takes four guys off that team — Paul Pressey, David Brown, Greg Stewart and Phil Spradling — and myself off the other junior college team, and we won the NIT championship against Syracuse at the University of Tulsa. That’s two championships. Then, of course, I was on staff as associate head coach at Arkansas when we won the National Championship. The guy is just a winner, man, in all aspects, and obviously he’s had a tremendous impact on my life.”
Scotty Thurman - Arkansas guard 1992-95; Arkansas assistant 2010-19
“I would probably say one of my favorite memories of Coach (Richardson) was the day of the National Championship game. We were preparing for, obviously, one of the biggest games in our lives and of his career. You know, we had a shootaround time, each year, each team gets 45 minutes to shoot around before the game, whether it’s a walk-through, just time to get shots up or what have you.“We played in Charlotte Coliseum, and back then you didn’t have the concourse level being on the second level, it was on the ground floor. Coach would always give us time to hang out in the locker room for a few minutes. We didn’t always start right at the time, he’d kind of let us get loose or hang out in the locker room, laughing or joking a bit. I remember myself, Elmer Martin and Corliss Williamson were in the locker room just hanging out for a few minutes, and then the managers came in and said, ‘Hey, Coach said get ready to go.’ So, we ran out there to the floor, and lo and behold, I didn’t realize the getting 'ready to go' was getting ready to pack up, because they had messed our times up, and so we only had like three minutes left on the clock by the time myself, Corliss and Elmer Martin hit the floor.
“Guys were taking some crazy shots. I look up at the clock and think, ‘Dang, we only got three minutes left,’ and at this time I’m looking for Coach (Richardson), Coach Anderson is on the floor, coach Brad Dunn is on the floor, coach Wayne Stehlik is off to the side of the floor just kind of looking a little bit confused, and I could just hear Coach Richardson’s voice. You gotta keep in mind, the president’s coming to the game, so you’ve got the Secret Service doing their sweep of the gym, you’ve got CBS setting up their TV monitors, you’ve got every media outlet that you can think of in there trying to get ready for the game as we were.
“You can just hear Coach Richardson going off on pretty much anybody he came into contact with. A lot of people thought that he was upset, which he was, but I don’t think he was as upset as he led people to believe, because the moment we get on the bus to leave, he just started going back to what our mantra had been all year, which was: ‘Nobody feels like we’re the best team in the country, nobody feels like we should be here, it’s us against the world.’
“That day, people don’t really know, we didn’t get the opportunity to have an actual shootaround and game prep besides what we would do at the hotel. We went out and played that game with that in mind. Nobody felt that we should be there. Nobody thought we were good enough to be there, nobody thought we were the best team in the country, but in our minds, we begged to differ.
“I’ll always remember him having that chip on his shoulder throughout his career, but that particular day I think he used that as fuel for us to give us the confidence to go out and compete at the level we did. And fortunate for us we were able to come out on the top side of it.”
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Hogs escape late Michigan rally to win, 8-6
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ARLINGTON, Texas — The No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks (6-1, 0-0 SEC) won Game 3 of their College Baseball Series slate Sunday afternoon against the Michigan Wolverines (4-3, 0-0 Big 10), 8-6, at Globe Life Field.
After two impressive innings by right-handed starter Gage Wood that included six strikeouts, two hits and an unearned run, he left the game before throwing a pitch in the third after talking things over with pitching coach Matt Hobbs on the mound.
According to a team spokesperson, Wood exited as a precaution due to "some shoulder soreness" and will be evaluated back in Fayetteville this week.
Wood's day came to an end with the Diamond Hogs leading 4-1, with two of those four runs being unearned due to Michigan errors. The others runs scored thanks to a Kendall Diggs fielder's choice in the first inning and a Brent Iredale single in the bottom of the second.
Arkansas' offense went on to score again in the third and fifth innings, which was enough to secure the win over the Wolverines.
The Razorbacks' bullpen was mostly solid, as seven pitchers combined for 7.0 innings, seven strikeouts, five walks, nine hits and three earned runs. The only earned runs allowed were by veteran righty reliever Will McEntire (two), who gave up back-to-back home runs to lead off the bottom of the sixth, plus freshman right-hander Carson Wiggins (one).
Michigan attempted a late-inning rally on left-hander Parker Coil, as the Wolverines scored two unearned runs on the junior in the ninth.
At the plate, Arkansas shortstop Wehiwa Aloy finished 4-for-4 with two RBIs, a double, a home run and a walk. Leadoff man Charles Davalan racked up two hits and two RBIs, while four other Hogs registered hits. For the day, Arkansas went 4-for-18 with runners on base and 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
Wood came out firing in the first with his high-heat fastball that touched 97 MPH early, according to Baseball Savant. He started his day off with a strikeout to Michigan leadoff Jonathan Kim, but a single and shoelace hit-by-pitch put Wood in a jam.
The Arkansas faithful in attendance grew quiet as cleanup man and Preseason All-American Mitch Voit took his stance in the box, and rightfully so, as Voit smoked a groundball to Wehiwa Aloy that resulted in an error and a run to score.
With two Wolverines still on base and two outs remaining, Wood broke free of his opening frame with two more punchouts. Michigan now led 1-0.
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Michigan trotted out right-handed starter Gavin DeVooght against Arkansas' offense, and he started strong with a full-count out on Razorback left fielder Charles Davalan. Aloy picked Davalan up by smashing a 109.2 MPH double to left field. Designated hitter Logan Maxwell complemented that with a walk before DeVooght hit third baseman Iredale to load the bases.
Now up was first baseman Cam Kozeal, who started 0-2 in the count before pulling a grounder to Michigan first baseman Jeter Ybarra, who errored to allow Aloy to score and re-load the bases. Diggs' slow-roller fielder's choice to the right side of the infield scored Maxwell from third, and Ryder Helfrick finished the inning with a strikeout. Arkansas now led 2-1.
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Wood didn't come to play in the second. All three outs he recorded came via the strikeout to up his total to six, with the only hit given up being a two-out single by Michigan shortstop Benjamin Casillas. It appeared DeVooght was going to have a quick frame himself after notching outs on second baseman Nolan Souza and center fielder Justin Thomas Jr., but a 110.2 MPH double to right center for Davalan and an Aloy walk kept the offense alive.
Ultimately, a hard-fought, 11-pitch at-bat by Maxwell loaded the bases on a walk. That brought up the feared Iredale, who pulled a base hit to Casillas at shortsop. Casillas fielded it, but overthrew his man at second base, which allowed Davalan and Aloy to score on an error. Michigan escaped when Kozeal grounded out up the middle. Arkansas now led 4-1.
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Before Wood was able to throw a pitch in the third, he was pulled from the game after Hobbs and others went out to talk to him. Right-hander Dylan Carter came on in relief, and he gave up a leadoff single to start his day. Fortunately for Carter, Ybarra grounded to Aloy at shortstop which resulted in a double play. Voit walked and reached second base on a wild pitch, but Carter ended the threat with a groundout.
The Wolverines took DeVooght out of the game in the bottom of the third after Diggs led off with a double to right center field and Helfrick struck out swinging. The new pitcher was lefty Wyatt Novara, whose wild pitch allowed Diggs to reach third and whose walk to Souza gave the Hogs two men on with only one out.
Another hit-by-pitch, this time on Thomas, loaded the bases again for Arkansas. Coming off a double in his last at-bat, Davalan delivered again with a two-RBI single to right field. Aloy added another run to the board on his right-field single, and the hot-scoring run came to an end on a Maxwell double play ground ball.
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Carter returned to the mound in the fourth for Arkansas, and despite giving up two singles, he managed to escape unscathed thanks to a double play groundball and a swinging strikeout. Hard contact by Iredale and Kozeal reached Michigan gloves in the outfield for outs, but Diggs extended the frame with a walk. Freshman catcher Zane Becker pinch-hit for Helfrick, and he walked to give Arkansas two men on with two outs. Souza capped the inning off with a groundout.
Relieving Carter in the top of the fifth was freshman left-hander Cole Gibler, who struck out Kim looking on a perfect full-count slider but followed up with a hit-by-pitch. A one-out walk gave Michigan two men on with cleanup man Voit at the plate, and that prompted a mound visit by Hobbs.
Gibler responded right away with a swinging strikeout on Voit and another swing and a miss, this time on Michigan catcher Matt Spear.
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Michigan switched things up on the mound again in the fifth, as righty David Lally Jr. made an appearance. It's safe to say that move didn't quite pan out for the Wolverines. Though Lally got two outs on a fly out and caught stealing (Thomas walked to lead off the inning), Aloy cranked a two-out oppo home run 101.9 MPH off the right-field foul pole to push the Hogs' lead to 8-1.
Veteran righty Will McEntire entered the game in the sixth and the Wolverines struck fast. Down 2-0, McEntire threw a meatball up in the zone, which Michigan third baseman Cole Caruso smashed to left field for a homer. Center fielder AJ Rausch made it back-to-back bombs off McEntire before he finally recorded his first out on a fly ball.
A walk to nine-hole Casillas turned the lineup over, but McEntire freed himself with back-to-back flyouts.
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Iredale, who was 1-for-2 at the plate at the time, walked to lead off the bottom of the sixth. After back-to-back outs by Kozeal and Diggs and multiple pick-off attempts, Becker singled through the left side to advance Iredale, who reached third on a wild pitch. Souza watched strike three to bring the inning to a close.
Sophomore left-hander Colin Fisher made a strong season debut in the seventh with two strikeouts, one walk and a popup. Arkansas nearly went 1-2-3 in its half of the inning, but an Aloy smoked single through the left side kept things chugging. A Maxwell bouncer to first closed the door, however.
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Arkansas continued to flex its bullpen depth in the eighth, as freshman right-hander Carson Wiggins entered the game. He gave up a first-pitch single to Michigan left fielder Robert Hamchuk, who advanced to second and third on back-to-back wild pitches. Rausch then walked on four pitches, and all of a sudden the Wolverines were threatening. As a result, Wiggins was removed from the game in a 2-0 count for lefty Paker Coil.
Coil got the job done with a strikeout, sac-fly and flyout on only seven pitches. That made the score 8-4, Arkansas.
Righty Tate Carey took over the reigns for Michigan in the bottom of the eighth and he proceeded to strikeout Iredale before Kozeal made his way to first base on a single. Outs by Diggs and Becker rounded out Arkansas' offensive effort.
Needing only three outs to win the game, the Razorbacks stayed with Coil on the mound. He drew two-straight flyouts to start things off before surrendering a double. Caruso then reached second on a throwing error, which put two runners in scoring position. Both those runners came around to score following a hard-hit single to center, which made it 8-6, Arkansas.
It didn't end there, as another single put the tying run at the plate for Michigan. That forced coach Dave Van Horn into making a change to righty Tate McGuire, who drew a groundout to end the game.
Arkansas squeaks past No. 22 TCU, 2-1
- By masonchoate
- The Trough
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ARLINGTON, Texas — The No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1, 0-0 SEC) earned a 2-1 victory over the No. 22 TCU Horned Frogs (5-1, 0-0 Big 12) on Saturday night at Globe Life Field thanks to a clutch seventh inning pinch-hit knock from BYU transfer Kuhio Aloy.
Arkansas struggled for six innings against TCU starter Tommy LaPour, who issued back-to-back walks to start the top of the seventh inning. Shortly after LaPour was relieved, the Hogs sent Aloy to the plate for a pinch hit at bat against a new arm, and he smacked a 110 mile per hour two-run double to left field to give the Razorbacks a 2-1 lead over the Horned Frogs.
Left-hander Zach Root gave the Razorbacks five innings of one-run ball with 10 strikeouts and just two runs in his second start with the team. Relievers Landon Beidelschies and Christian Foutch combined for four scoreless innings after Root.
Both teams combined for just seven hits (three by the Hogs) in the game and they combined to go 1-19 at the plate with runners on base (Arkansas was 1-8). Aloy's big hit was the only hit in the game with runners in scoring position.
Both starting pitchers posted scoreless frames with a pair of punchouts each in the first inning. The Razorbacks stranded right fielder Kendall Diggs at second base in the top of the second inning after the senior slugger hit a 107 mile per hour two-out single to left field and then stole a base. Root worked around a one-out single in the bottom half to keep the game scoreless after two innings.
After a scoreless third inning by both squads and a six-pitch top of the fourth inning by LaPour, the Horned Frogs finally got to Root in the bottom half of the fourth.
The left-hander issued a leadoff walk followed by a single before gaining a strikeout. With the next batter down 0-2 in the count, Root plunked him to load the bases for TCU's Sam Myers, who picked up an RBI and reach via an error by freshman second baseman Gabe Fraser, who was making his first career start for Arkansas. Root then did it himself and struck out the next two batters to leave the bases loaded and keep the deficit at 1-0.
LaPour put together his third 1-2-3 frame of the game by that point in the top of the fifth inning for the Horned Frogs, and Root followed suit with a pair of three-pitch strikeouts (his 9th and 10th of the game) and a one-pitch fly out to close a six-pitch bottom half of the fifth inning for the Razorbacks.
The Hogs again went down in order in the top of the sixth. Pitching coach Matt Hobbs turned to Beidelschies in relief of Root in the bottom of the sixth. Beidelschies, a lefty transfer from Ohio State, went three up, three down and benefitted from a home run robbery by left fielder Charles Davalan for the third out.
Arkansas drew back-to-back walks to chase LaPour from the game at the start of the top of the seventh inning. Following a sacrifice bunt and second pitching change, the pinch hitting Kuhio Aloy — who hit a 420+ foot Friday against Kansas State — crushed a 110 mile per hour RBI double to left field that scored both runners to give the Razorbacks a 2-1 lead.
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Beidelschies worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh for his second scoreless frame in a row, while the Razorbacks couldn't capitalize on shortstop Wehiwa Aloy drawing a two-out hit by pitch in the top of the eighth.
TCU led the bottom of the eighth off with a single, but then the Hogs gained two outs on an impressive 3-6-3 double play by Vanderbilt transfer Cam Kozeal, who made his first start of the year at first base.
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Arkansas turned to Foutch, a junior right-hander, with two outs and he forced a fly out to end the frame. After the Hogs went scoreless in the top of the ninth, Foutch returned to pitch in the bottom half.
TCU freshman Nate Franco singled to left field to leadoff the bottom of the ninth, but Foutch quickly saw it erased via a double play by Nolan Souza at second base. Foutch then issued back-to-back walks and Hobbs made a visit to the mound with runners on the corners. Foutch then responded with his only strikeout of the game to get the save.
Up next, the Razorbacks will play the Michigan Wolverines (4-2, 0-0 Big Ten) at Globe Life Field in Arlington for their final contest in the College Baseball Series. First pitch against the Wolverines is set for 11 a.m. CT and the game will stream on FloSports.
Box Score
Coming soon.
Social media reacts to Arkansas' win over Missouri
- The Trough
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Coach John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks (16-11, 5-9 SEC) earned a big resume-boosting win Saturday evening after defeating the No. 15 Missouri Tigers, 92-85, at Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas started the game strong, as an isolation bucket by Johnell Davis, a Zvonimir Ivisic and-one layup and a Karter Knox free throw propelled the team to a 6-2 early lead. After Missouri answered with a two-pointer, Davis splashed home his first triple of the day. With 15:58 minutes to go, the Hogs held a 9-4 lead.
Davis' made his third steal in less than five minutes out of the first media timeout, but some tough made shots by the Tigers tied the game up at 12-12. From there, Missouri guard Caleb Grill started lighting the world on fire.
By the 11:54 mark, Grill was already up to 11 points on perfect shooting (including two triples). A Jonas Aidoo hookshot make in the paint kept the Hogs' advantage at one, 19-18, before Trevon Brazile fouled to send the game into a media timeout.
Freshmen Knox (six points, steal) and Billy Richmond III (two points, rebound, two assists, block, steal) made plays early, but the Tigers took their largest lead of the night over the Razorbacks, 30-25, with 7:09 minutes left in the first half.
A mini-push aided by another and-one for Knox drew the Razorbacks within two points, but Missouri's relentlessness on loose balls helped it reacquire a seven-point, 39-32 lead at the 3:04 minute mark.
Every time Arkansas had momentum, Missouri found a way to snatch it back. A Big Z steal and dunk was followed by a Missouri alley-oop. A three by Davis was answered with a jumper. To cap it off, Missouri drained a three to close the first-half score at 48-41, Tigers.
The start to the second half played like much of the first, right up until a Theiro steal and subsequent and-one layup brought Arkansas' deficit to just two points. After a Missouri two-pointer, a three by Davis got the Hogs within one point. By the 15:33 minute mark, Arkansas led 55-54 after two Davis free throws.
Missouri started to go cold a bit midway through the second half, but good defense by the Tigers kept Arkansas' offense at bay. A media timeout sent both teams to regroup with 11:29 minutes left and Arkansas down, 59-58.
Let it be known that with 8:44 minutes remaining in the game, Big Z snapped his three-point miss streak to give Arkansas a 67-63 lead over Missouri. Arkansas opened up its largest lead of the night, 70-63, following a Davis triple. Missouri matched with a layup, but Thiero slammed one home to retake the seven-point margin.
With its lead up to nine points, Thiero had to exit the game while dealing with some pain. Then, Knox took an 11-point lead on a Knox floater in the paint with just over six minutes to go.
The Razorbacks found themselves in familiar territory with time draining. Up six with 3:31 minutes left, Arkansas had to put enough pieces together to close out the big win over the Tigers. Things started strong, as a missed three by Missouri turned into a transition alley-oop conversion for Trevon Brazile, which forced a media timeout with 2:30 minutes left.
Behind some clutch free throws, a clutch Big Z putback and good-enough defense, the Razorbacks held on for the win at home.
Leading the way for Arkansas was Ivisic, who finished with 20 points, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Davis added 18 points, while DJ Wagner (17 points), Knox (14 points) and Thiero (11 points) also contributed heavily.
Below are game highlights and social media reactions from Arkansas' conference win...
CLICK HERE FOR HIGHLIGHTS AND SOCIAL MEDIA REACTIONS
