Nolan joins Tulsa effort to lure team

TULSA — Former Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson was equal parts new hire and public relations man.

Richardson was introduced as the new coach of Tulsa's WNBA team on Tuesday. Now the city just has to attract a team to play in Tulsa, either an expansion team or have an existing franchise move in.

Richardson, 67, said he has made a commitment to coach the team and spent time during the news conference at the BOK Center to encourage the business leaders of the city to support the effort to attract the team.

"There are a lot of unknowns at this point," Richardson said. "The most important thing that we need to do is to get the team. It's a great product, and it'll make us all proud."

David Box, one of the lead investors for the prospective team, said Richardson's hiring would be the "pivotal reason" in a successful attempt to get a team. Box said one of the reasons Richardson was such an attractive candidate was because he "puts butts in the seats."

Box said a decision on Tulsa getting a team could be made as early as this week.

Richardson said the way to draw fans was to win. The desire to win is still strong in Richardson, who was fired by Arkansas late in the 2002 season.

Richardson, a member of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, won the NCAA Tournament title in 1994 at Arkansas, where he was 389-169 in 17 seasons. Richardson was 508-206 in 22 years as a Division I coach, including 16 NCAA Tournament appearances and three Final Fours.

Richardson also won a junior college national title at Western Texas in 1980 and the NIT title in 1981 at Tulsa.

"History, I love history," said Richardson, referring to a ring he was wearing with diamonds representing his championships. "I want to put another diamond in this one. Then I know when I leave this earth, no one will ever do what I did. That's important."

After Richardson was fired by Arkansas, he filed a federal lawsuit against the UA and its administrators claiming his firing was racial discrimination and a violation of his free-speech rights. The lawsuit was dismissed after a month-long trial in July 2004.

Richardson coached the Panama and Mexico teams in international competitions in recent years. He has not coached women before, a status that he said many people have asked him about since word leaked he was up for the Tulsa job.

" 'You've never coached women before,' [and] I said, 'So what?' " Richardson said. "Coaching is coaching. Teaching is teaching. It's teaching. That's what I do, and what I believe I do best."

Box joked that Richardson's style will be "40 Minutes of Hell II."

Richardson said his style will work in the WNBA.

"Girls are so skilled now. They have such great fundamentals," Richardson said. "They can all shoot the ball pretty good, shoot free throws. All of them look like they can put it on the floor."