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For splash, Nolan is the right hire for ASU Thursday, Feb 28, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Strictly for splash, Nolan Richardson is the right hire for Arkansas State University. Nationally, such a move would resonate to ESPN's headquarters in Bristol, Conn., and back across the country. Highlights from Arkansas' glory years - a national championship and two other trips to the Final Four from 1990-1995 - would be extracted from the network archives and would be queued up while a couple of anchors detailed Richardson's return to coaching. Nothing against ASU, but acknowledgment from the network anchors will be in direct relationship to the notoriety of the new coach, particularly if Indiana, LSU, South Carolina and others are hiring at the same time. More importantly, long after Richardson's hiring faded from the national scene, the ripples would continue regionally, emanating from Jonesboro to Memphis and across Arkansas. Just speculating, what if Richardson hired some former Razorbacks as assistants? How would Todd Day play in Memphis, less than an hour from Jonesboro and the site of his high school stomping grounds? Or Corliss Williamson in the heart of Razorback country? Those two guys litter the UA record book and are among the most revered of the Richardson Razorbacks. Day was on the 1990 team that lost to Duke in the NCAA semifinals; Williamson's 1994 team beat Duke for the championship and his 1995 team lost to UCLA in the title game. Maybe even more appealing to young men with dollar signs in their eyes, Day and Williamson played a total of 20 years in the NBA. Both are available. Day is playing and coaching a group called the Impact that, at last report, was playing at Barton Coliseum, and he would leap at the opportunity. Williamson is a volunteer coach at Arkansas Baptist College and might need some persuading. With or without the former pigs in tow, Richardson is an immediate catalyst for ticket sales and curiosity. According to The Jonesboro Sun, ASU's season ticket sales have fallen eight straight years from a high of 3,256 in 2000 to 1,925 this year. The peak came a year after ASU made it to the NCAA Tournament and averaged 6,616 people per game. This year, the Indians played in front of an average of fewer than 3,000 per game. Northeast Arkansas has been a hotbed of basketball for years and a Richardson-coached scrimmage game might draw more than 3,000. His hiring also would increase interest from the casual fan. I suspect you could stop 10 people outside our building in downtown Little Rock and not half of them would know that ASU is in the Sun Belt Conference. With Richardson in charge, that number would go up, not to the point that ASU would bump the Razorbacks, but up. Some might even ask how ASU fared against Louisiana-Lafayette or New Orleans or some other opponent from the Sun Belt West. Richardson, 66, has made it clear that he wants to return to coaching. He says he still has the fire and his need to succeed one more time might be enough to get past any salary issue. ASU's basketball budget is about $1 million per year, just about what Richardson made before he was fired at the end of the 2002 season. When ASU gave Dickey Nutt a three-year extension after the 2005 season, his salary was reduced to about $180,000. Richardson might take $180,000 or less, plus a percentage of tickets sold above the paltry number who paid to see Nutt's last team. For the sake of round numbers, if attendance went from 2,990 to 6,990 and Richardson received $5 per ticket, that would be $20,000 per game. This year, ASU had 15 home games. Both sides might have reservations - ASU officials because of Richardson's propensity for outspokenness; the coach because of his disdain for losing and questions about succeeding at ASU. There is no crystal ball for Richardson quotes, but he has been very good in recent public appearances. As for his concern, Western Kentucky and South Alabama are usually the best of the Sun Belt and both are in the East. ASU has hired a firm to help with the coaching search and the school will have some viable candidates. If immediate panache is the point, there is only one choice. ------- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
