Calipari shows respect to Nolan Richardson during introductory presser
The big-money hiring of John Calipari as the next Arkansas head coach was quite the spectacle, as the former Kentucky coach was introduced at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday night to a large crowd that filled up almost the entire east stand.
“I have never gotten that kind of greeting in this building,” Calipari said. “As a matter of fact, you were probably in the building when they threw me out [in 2020]. We did win that game, though. But when I walked out, you guys were throwing stuff at me then. There weren’t any cheers.”
There were plenty of cheers this time around as athletic director Hunter Yurachek introduced Calipari, who became the third Hall of Fame basketball coach to lead the Razorbacks, alongside Nolan Richardson and Eddie Sutton.
Coach Cal paid his respects to Richardson, saying that he holds him in high regard and even going as far as to say that he would not have taken the job without his approval.
“He and I talked this morning,” Calipari said. “Hunter will tell you, or John [Tyson], the one thing I asked was I want to know what Coach Richardson thinks of me taking this job. I need to know.”
“When I asked Hunter and I asked John, ‘What did Coach Richardson say about me being hired?’ What he said was, ‘a great hire because he cares about the kids.’ Made my day.”
Remembering the 90s
Calipari also told a story about a connection with Richardson, who led the Hogs to a 1994 national championship, that he uncovered through the decor in his home office in Lexington.
“Did they [tweet out] the poster I talked about?” Calipari asked the room. “Isn’t that crazy? I’m at my desk and my assistant says, ‘did you look behind you?’ And I looked and it was Nolan Richardson and Corliss. And I’m like, ‘this is crazy,’ and I sent it to Coach Richardson.”
The poster in question is from the Tipoff Classic in November of 1994, when Calipari’s UMASS Minutemen, ranked No. 3 in the nation, met Richardson’s top-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks.
“Was anyone here at the 1994 game in Springfield, [MA], the Hall of Fame game?” Calipari asked the crowd in Bud Walton Arena.
One fan yelled out that he had made the trip up to Massachusetts way back when.
“That was UMass and Arkansas the year after they won the national title,” Calipari said. “That year, they went to the championship game. It’s a poster of Coach Richardson. He looked at it and said ‘That doesn’t look like me’... It does look like him…What was the score of that game, by the way?”
The same fan then yelled out that he forgives Calipari.
Thirty years after the fact, Coach Cal’s history is on point. UMASS romped to a 104-80 blowout victory over the defending national champions, led by Louis Roe’s 34-point night.
Calipari’s innovative “dribble-drive offense” picked Richardson’s press apart, as the Minutemen earned 50 free throw attempts and outrebounded Arkansas by 20.
In an interview with Graham Bensinger last year, Calipari said that win was the proudest on-court achievement of his career and served as the moment he knew he had made it.
“When I was at UMASS and we beat Arkansas, and they were ranked number one in the country and we’re trying to come on the scene…really was satisfying, because you built something out of nothing," Calipari said.
“I called [Coach Richardson] and sent him the poster,” Calipari said. “He sounds great. He sounded like he’s always sounded…We talked about the game where he got smashed. He laughed. It just shows you that anybody can beat anybody in one game. They had their team back, they had 10 [returning] guys. We beat their brains in…He knew what happened in the game, he talked about it, he talked about his players. I told him that he’s always welcome here.”
The two Hall of Fame coaches met again in the Sweet 16 the following season, and Calipari once again got the better of Richardson. The Minutemen won 79-63, eventually advancing to the Final Four behind Wooden Award-winning center Marcus Camby.
Hall of Fame Friendship
While Calipari, a fierce competitor, had to jab a little at Richardson for their past on-court meetings, the newest Head Hog expressed nothing but appreciation for the Razorback legend.
“I think Corey Beck is here,” Calipari said. “Where is Corey? Corey played on that team. Scottie Thurman, ‘The Shot’. It wasn’t just who [Richardson] coached, it’s how he coached and how they changed the game to that point from ‘we’re coming after you, 40 Minutes of Hell, this is what we’re doing.'
“And the excitement in this building, it was hard to win a game as an opponent in here because you knew they were coming after you, here they come. I will tell you that he challenged his kids…He challenged them, but he cared.”
Connections are everything in college hoops, and Calipari has made plenty of them throughout his storied career. Having a legend like Richardson in his circle is sure to help win over Arkansas fans, and the presence of another Hall of Fame coach around the program will further elevate the Razorback brand.
Richardson was a regular attendee of Arkansas games when his former assistant, Mike Anderson, was leading the Hogs, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic obviously made coming to games in recent years far from easy for the 82-year-old.
With another friend and a fellow Hall of Famer now leading the program, the iconic retired coach is likely to make the stroll over to Bud Walton Arena a little more often.