Enough with Excuses: Get Nolan Richardson Statue Built Now

It's Friday the 13th in February, an oddly warm day for the dead of winter in Northwest Arkansas.

However, it's fitting for it to feel like spring outside because down in Dallas-Fort Worth at the home of the Texas Rangers, the most uplifting day of the year is unfolding as the Razorbacks baseball team goes through its pregame routine for an opening day showdown against the Hogs' biggest non-conference rival in Oklahoma State.

There is no doubt it's exciting for Arkansas to get started on yet another chapter of the never-ending quest to get Dave Van Horn his first, well-deserved, national championship. However, the more thoughts about Van Horn's path of setting his team up for success only to have what can only be described as a curse snatch away key College World Series wins, the more it offers reminders of how little reverence has been shown to the only Razorbacks coach to bring the university a fully recognized, undisputed national championship.

Nolan Richardson, who led the Hogs to the 1994 college basketball national championship and narrowly missed a second title the following season against UCLA in the finals, has been in need of a statue depicting him stalking the sidelines barking encouragement to his players or lighting up a referee complete with signature cowboy boots for a long time now.

Yes, after a few decades, the university agreed to put his name on the floor in Bud Walton Arena, but at no point does anyone refer to it as Nolan Richardson Court. It's strictly referred to as Bud Walton and nothing else.

Most Hogs fans forget it's Nolan Richardson Court and a lot never even realized it was the case. Richardson is sharp as he's ever been during interviews and guest appearances, but the reality is he's 84 years old.

While not having a naming rights deal for the football stadium is a big deal, not having a statue of Richardson outside Bud Walton Arena along the main walk is an even bigger deal. That's because if Richardson is to one day pass away without being properly honored for what he did not only for the basketball program, but Razorbacks athletics as a whole, it will be unforgivable.

That should be an automatic fireable offense. Without Richardson, Bud Walton Arena isn't even possible.

Imagine if it had been Stan Heath and John Pelphrey who ran the program rather than Richardson in the mid-80s and early 90's. The demand probably isn't there to build a borderline 20,000 seat state of the art for the time arena.

What's going on right now with the basketball program definitely isn't happening in any other scenario. John Calipari isn't coaching at Arkansas without Richardson coming into the SEC and having his team hit Kentucky with multiple RKOs to immediately dethrone the Wildcats as the standard bearer for the league on the way to a national championship.

Richardson showed Calipari required support can be gained and top recruits can be lured to Fayetteville. Everything he needed to be able to picture himself as a winner with a fresh restart when he went on his career contemplation walk two years ago came from Richardson's career at Arkansas.

There's no way the statue not being built is a money issue. It's hard to imagine every business in Arkansas not offering to chip in financially to make it happen.

It's a lack of priority, which is far out of line with the will of Arkansas fans. It's hard to find anyone who was alive during Richardson's run who is in disagreement with the need to not only get a statue, but to get it done as quickly as possible.

The time for excuses has expired. The grudge has long since been set aside and Richardson has done more than he should to continue giving back to the program with his visits and team talks along with his radio appearances pumping up the program

Get it done.
That's it. Full stop.
Get it done.

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