After mistakenly suggesting that Nolan Richardson had passed away, Stephen A. Smith confirmed that he is indeed alive. Following Arkansas’ defeat against Texas Tech in the Sweet 16, ESPN’s First Take delved into whether John Calipari deserves more credit or criticism for his first season with the Razorbacks. During this discussion, Smith unintentionally implied that the former Arkansas men’s basketball coach, Nolan Richardson, was deceased.
“He’s gonna be able to recruit better than anybody ever has there outside of Mr. 40 Minutes of Hell himself, the late great Nolan Richardson. God rest his soul,” Smith remarked, leading many to believe the 83-year-old Richardson had died. However, Richardson is alive, and in the following segment on First Take, Smith made it clear that he knows this, asserting he has always been aware.
In the next segment, Smith clarified “I am fully aware that Nolan Richardson is alive. Trust me. I apologize for that…I know he’s alive.” https://t.co/hMa8n3HXHG pic.twitter.com/LCVzsKLLQo
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 28, 2025
“I am fully aware that Nolan Richardson is alive. Trust me. I apologize for that,” Smith reiterated. “I don’t know why I said, ‘God rest his soul.’ I know he’s alive, I’ve always known that. So I just wanted to make sure I made that clear before we moved on to the show. I don’t want anybody thinking I thought the man was gone. I did not. I know he’s alive.” Even if we assume Smith genuinely understands that Richardson is alive, this was still his second apology in as many days, both curiously relating to death.
In a separate incident earlier in the week, Smith criticized LeBron James for allegedly not attending Kobe Bryant’s memorial service after his death in 2020. However, it was widely reported that James did attend the service, prompting Smith to apologize for his incorrect statement. Thankfully, Smith did not accuse LeBron of skipping Richardson’s memorial service, and we hope that a memorial service for Richardson is far off in the future.
