$6M Man Is Embarrassing Himself (Jeffrey Wood commentary)

Nolan Richardson embarrassed Arkansas last March by crying racism when the University of Arkansas fired him for what it called “no longer demonstrating the ability to lead the program.” Now the former basketball coach is just embarrassing himself.

This has nothing to do with Nolan “Notes” Richardson III recently changing his offensive philosophy at Middle Tennessee State from “run-and-gun” to “run-and-go-get-a-gun.” Unlike his son, Nolan Richardson is heeding the advice of TV’s “People’s Court” and not taking matters into his own hands — he’s taking them to court.

Richardson’s Dec. 19 federal lawsuit against the UA, which alleges discrimination and free-speech infringements, is not an attempt to regain his job despite its laughable claim to the contrary. It is about the same thing that everything his 17 years at the UA was about — Nolan Richardson.

He has more ego than the self worths of Ted Turner, Jerry Jones, O.J. Simpson and Chuck Dicus combined. We’re talking golly-whopper gonna-block-out-the-sun-sized, King Kong ego. The mass of Saturn (about 95 times that of Earth) weighs less.

Whatever happened to the softhearted man with the goofy polka-dot ties? Richardson traded them in for a mock turtleneck and a tent-revival preacher’s shout — only the sermons he spews are nonsensical circles of blame, hate and self-adulation. This transformation manifested itself in the form of a nationwide crusade during the Razorbacks’ 1994 NCAA National Championship run.

It culminated in a $6 million contract buyout after his March 1 firing (including $3 million in deferred compensation he is owed). The Six Million Dollar Man claims he was fired for speaking out about alleged discrimination at the UA. The school maintains he lost his job because he no longer demonstrated the ability to lead the program.

We would have said it like this: Since the summer of 1995, the Six Million Dollar Man appears to have found it far more enjoyable to recline on his 15 minutes of fame than to actually do his job. (His well-documented apathy for encouraging young men to better themselves through education extends back much further).

The March mess was a public relations disaster for Arkansas, despite the state’s strides in equality since the 1957 Little Rock Central High School crisis. Obviously, for white Arkansans to claim they understand the pain of prejudice would be equally as ridiculous as the way the Six Million Dollar Man paints the state with his broad brush of bigotry.

The Six Million Dollar Man knows entitlement like few others in Arkansas — he of the multiple country club memberships, ranch, condo, SUVs, town cars, private planes and tailored suits. He of the $30 million new basketball facility. He of the statewide adulation before accusing the same fans and boosters who supported him with their pocketbooks of being redneck racists and worse.

The print, TV and radio pundits speculate about the Six Million Dollar Man’s ultimate goal. Some say it’s designed to end J. Frank Broyles’ 30-year stint as athletic director. Richardson undoubtedly sees Broyles as a sentry of the old South — a white-bread elitist of the ilk whose small mindedness helped extend Reconstruction into the 1980s.

The truth is Broyles is nothing if not a forward-thinker and nothing if not the person most responsible for Richardson getting the right shot at major college coaching — a hire in the right place at the right time that helped make Richardson a multimillionaire even before his buyout.

Richardson would say he earned the chance and the money, and that’s hard to dispute. But even the Six Million Dollar Man would have to concede that were it not for Broyles, Richardson likely would have had to take his shot in a far less coddling environment.

No one in Arkansas history has been handled more delicately by the media than the Six Million Dollar Man. Yet he cried foul nearly as often as his players committed them.

Perhaps, they say, the Six Million Dollar Man’s goal is to simply embarrass the university. But Chancellor John White has led a successful crusade since arriving in 1998 to grow the number of minorities on faculty and in administrative positions. The UA obviously could have done more throughout history, but Richardson’s accusations ring hollow.

We have yet to hear a scintilla of evidence that the Six Million Dollar Man was mistreated by the UA in any way. But, of course, that’s not really why he’s suing the university.

It comes down to this: The Six Million Dollar Man can’t stand not being in the center of that spotlight — a forum that for so many years let him glare up at his predominantly white fans and resent and judge them.

It’s also got to be killing him that new coach Stan Heath has more class in his pinky than Richardson’s players ever attended.