How Two Program Legends Nearly Came to a Head at Bud Walton Arena

Author:
Daniel Shi
Updated:
Feb 14, 2024 3:52 PM EST
Original:
Feb 14, 2024

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Some names transcend the institution they come from. Few names in college basketball are more recognizable than Pat Summitt and Nolan Richardson. Both are Naismith Hall of Famers, and the two coaches combined for nine national titles and 21 Final Four appearances. Summitt brought the women's game to life with the Lady Volunteers.

Richardson pioneered the pathway for African-American coaches, becoming the first to win the NIT and the second to win a national title during his time at Arkansas.

As Peyton Manning said in Summitt's eulogy, everyone has a Pat Summitt story. As the two teams get set to square off again inside Bud Walton Arena, it's only fitting to revisit a story unknowingly involving the two giants of the game that also involves current Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors.

In the early 2000s, Neighbors was working as the director of operations for the women's basketball team and in charge of running the practice schedule and Summitt was in town to play the Razorbacks.

Something wasn't quite right. Neighbors was surprised to see Summitt's team arrive in the parking lot at 4:50 for a 6 p.m. practice schedule. Immediate panic took over Neighbors' body as he tried to make small talk with a team of arriving Lady Volunteers.

"'Welcome,'" Neighbors told Summitt at the time. "'I'm going to get you to your locker room. Y'all are here a little bit early.'"

Normally, Summitt and her team showing up an hour early wouldn't have been a problem, but another legend was currently occupying the practice court. Richardson and his squad weren't ending their session anytime soon

"'We're about five minutes early,' Summitt told Neighbors. "'We'll stay back here. Are they about done?' I said, 'No, they got another hour because y'all don't go on until six.'"

As a director of ops trying to get his foot in the coaching door, he thought for sure he had made a mistake. Two giants of coaching were now going to be at odds with each other over a practice court and Neighbors was going to have to play peacemaker because of his error.

"I start sweating way worse than I'm sweating now," Neighbors said. "I'm worried that I had given them the wrong time. I'm going to have to try to negotiate a Nolan Richardson, Pat Summitt stand-off."

Turns out it was an error by the Tennessee director of ops, forgetting to factor in a simple time zone change as 6 p.m. central meant 7 p.m. eastern, but Neighbors didn't know that while he drove his Jeep back to Barnhill to his office to check the fax to see what time he had given Summitt.

"I'm just praying that that fax I had sent said six o'clock," Neighbors said. "It did. I showed her and she said 'We'll be on this bus. Would you come get us if Coach Richardson's off real soon?'"

From then on, Neighbors was always known to Summitt as 'the guy who got the shoot-around time right.'

As the two programs led by well-respected coaches (Rick Barnes and Eric Musselman) get ready to face off again inside Bud Walton Arena, hopefully, there's no scheduling snafu, but it's a poignant reminder of the legends that have come before them. The game is scheduled to tip at 8 p.m. Feb. 14 and will be broadcast on ESPN2 and fuboTV .