There’s a good chance that most people reading this don’t even know (or remember) who Nolan Richardson is. Which is a shocking, considering he won over 500 games as a NCAA coach, including a National Championship and three Final Four appearances as head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Luckily for those of you not in the know, Rus Bradburd has penned a wonderful new book chronically Richardson colourful life – Forty Minutes of Hell: The Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson.
As is often the case with basketball books, Forty Minutes isn’t so much a book about basketball but rather a book about race. Richardson was getting head coaching jobs when it was still taboo for an African American to hold such a position, and this culminated in him becoming the first black coach at a major school in the South when he was hired by Arkansas. Implementing a frenetic, full court press and fastbreak style of play dubbed “Forty Minutes of Hell”, Richardsonmade Arkansas more than just a football school. His piece de resistance at the school washis 1994 team, lead by Corliss Williamson, which won the NCAA Championship.
But even at the top of his profession Bradburd paints a picture of an unhappy, unsatisfied man. The author does a great job illustrating Richardon’s “us against the world” ethos that seems to permeate every aspect of his life, and eventually leads to his professional downfall. Richardson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” personality also shines through – an angry, demanding coach who alsotreats his players (both current and former) as family off of the court. Forty Minutes is an interesting, important read for anyone who considers themselves a basketball fan (or readers interested in theCivils Rights Movement, for that matter), and Bradburd does an exemplary job detailing the extraordinary life that Nolan Richardson has lived.
Grab the book here:
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