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Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson announces the death of wife Rosario

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•10/14/24•

BarkleyTruax

Arkansas Razorbacks basketball logo
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Rosario Richardson, the wife of former Arkansas basketball coach Nolan Richardson, has died, he announced. She was 84.

The Arkansas Men’s Basketball team’s posted his statement to their social media pages on Monday night.

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“Our family has lost our beloved Rosario,” the statement from Richardson read. “She was always by my side and was the greatest coach’s wife I could have ever been blessed with. She was always loving, supportive and loyal. She was wholly dedicated to every job we held. Without her nothing that i accomplished would have been possible.

“I could confide in her about everything. She truly will be missed by me, but also millions of people, simply because she was a giver. Anytime you are a giver, it comes back to you and makes you stronger. That is what Rosario did for me. I have lost my best friend. I will miss her greatly.”

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Richardson is the only man to have coached the Razorbacks to a national championship, which came in 1994. He went 389-169 as head coach of Arkansas and was 508-206 overall with the Razorbacks and Tulsa from 1980-2002. He also coached Tulsa’s WNBA team for two seasons in 2010 and ’11 — all with his wife by his side.

Since the announcement, the post has been flooded with an outpouring of support, love and condolonses pour in for the Richardson and Arkansas basketball families alike.

It’s unclear how the Arkansas Men’s and Women’s basketball teams will honor Rosario during the 2024-25 regular season.

Under new leadership in John Calipari this season, the new Razorbacks head coach, who was at UMass at the time, went up against Richardson’s group directly after the ’94 championship run. Calipari’s No. 3 Minutemen were trounced 104-80 against the No. 1 Razorbacks.

Rosario Richardson probably loved every second of it.

No. 16 Arkansas tips off its regular season against Lipscomb at home on Nov. 6 before meeting No. 8 Baylor on Nov. 9 in Dallas.