ESPN firebrand Stephen A. Smith Announced Arkansas Great’s Death, Apologizes Later

ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith has issued two public corrections in as many days, including a clarification regarding his criticism of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. On Thursday, Smith mistakenly claimed that James did not attend the 2020 funeral of Kobe Bryant, an assertion he later had to retract.

On Friday, Smith found himself apologizing again, this time for incorrectly stating that legendary Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson had passed away. During an early morning segment of First Take, Smith mistakenly said, “God rest his soul,” when referring to Richardson. He quickly addressed the mistake at the start of the show, emphasizing that he was fully aware Richardson is alive and apologizing for the error.

Qerim responded: “Ok, I didn’t even hear you said that.”

Stephen A. Smith mistakenly describes Arkansas legend Nolan Richardson as ‘the late, great’

In a previous segment, Stephen A. Smith was praising the job first-year Arkansas head coach John Calipari did this past season even getting the 10th-seeded Razorbacks to the Sweet Sixteen when he described the 83-year-old Richardson as “the late, great” before adding “God rest his soul.”

“Of course he’ll have his teams in the tournament, of course he’ll 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 said. “But in the same breath, if anybody can compete with that and bring a national program back to Arkansas, it is John Calipari. I think he’s already done it.”

Richardson served as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks from 1985 to 2002, guiding the program to its only NCAA national championship in 1994 with a victory over Duke. Under his leadership, the Razorbacks made three Final Four appearances in 1990, 1994, and 1995, the latter culminating in a championship game loss to UCLA.

With an overall record of 389-169 (.697 winning percentage), Richardson remains the winningest coach in Arkansas men’s basketball history. His teams were dominant in the early-to-mid 1990s, winning more games than any other NCAA program between the 1989-90 and 1995-96 seasons.