FAYETTEVILLE — As usual, Wayne Stehlik fired up the DVD player and spent a good portion of Monday watching game film.
This has become an average workday for him over the past few weeks.
Stehlik watched parts of three WNBA games from last season, then planned to catch two college women’s basketball games later in the day.
He was on the lookout for a swing player who could defend, post up, shoot, and most importantly, handle the demands of Nolan Richardson’s “40 Minutes of Hell.”
Despite Richardson’s fiery personality and Stehlik’s mild-mannered approach, the two men have worked well together over the past few decades.
With Stehlik on his coaching staff, Richardson won a national championship at Arkansas in 1994, then changed the style of play for the Mexican national team a few years ago.
And when Richardson was named the coach of the WNBA’s new Tulsa franchise in late September and had a chance a few months later to fill out his staff, he called his longtime friend. Richardson asked Stehlik to join him as an assistant coach for the Tulsa Shock.
At the time, Stehlik was working as an assistant athletic director at Fayetteville. But he couldn’t say no to his former boss or pass up the chance to get back into coaching.
“I was really happy with things at Fayetteville High School, being the assistant (athletic director) and helping kids,” Stehlik said. “But I’ve got a 27-year relationship with Coach Richardson, and we’ve had our battles like everybody else.”
Not only has Stehlik come out unscathed, he’s actually enjoyed his time working for Richardson, who’s as entertaining, unpredictable, successful and fiery as any college basketball coach over the past 30 years. Now Stehlik is headed with Richardson to the WNBA.
Before moving to Tulsa, the Shock won three WNBA championships in Detroit. With the hopes of helping the franchise earn a fourth ring, Stehlik has spent long days in front of his laptop, scouting players.
He has April’s WNBA Draft to get ready for. And while his two daughters played in the snow last weekend, he stayed indoors, reviewing game film to see if there are any WNBA players worth trading for over the next few months.
“I think our staff will be able to change how they play pro women’s basketball. We changed how players played college ball,” Stehlik said. “... We want to implement our full-court offense and up-tempo defense to the women’s game.”
It’s “40 Minutes of Hell,” The Sequel.
Stehlik said he has no plans of moving his family from Fayetteville to Tulsa. His wife, Tracey Mays Stehlik, serves as an associate athletic director in Arkansas’ compliance office. He also has one daughter playing volleyball at Fayetteville and another daughter playing basketball at Fayetteville Woodland.
Meanwhile, Stehlik said he’ll continue to oversee the Northwest Arkansas Tip-Off Club. (Today’s guest is former Missouri State and UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour, a Rogers High graduate.)
“My home is Fayetteville. ... I’m a Bulldog. It just so happens my career has taken me to Tulsa for a short time,” Stehlik said. “But you can do a lot of work from your own house with a DVD player. You can watch a lot of film.”
As he’s done lately.
ALEX ABRAMS IS A NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS SPORTS WRITER. HIS COLUMN APPEARS EACH TUESDAY.