As NCAA women’s basketball Final Four activities get underway in San Antonio, several dedicated bloggers who cover the sport are at home. Q McCall from SwishAppeal.com, Megan Hueter from WomenTalksSports.com and I are not watching the games from home by choice. We did not meet the NCAA credential criterion of having one million unique views per month for our online publications.

Looking at a survey of women’s basketball sites using the service Quantcast.com reveals that not many publications that cover women’s basketball beyond re-posting of news wires meet that metric, much less a site completely dedicated to women’s sports. SBNation.com, the umbrella site for SwishAppeal.com, attracts over a million visitors per month but SwishAppeal.com on its own? Not by a long shot.

I talked to a few veteran journalists about this issue including the “guru” of women’s basketball coverage Mel Greenberg and Wendy Parker, a former writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a contributor to Basketball Times.

When I asked Mel about his thoughts on the NCAA media credential process, he alluded to the NCAA catching up to the times and the evolution of technology.

“The NCAA is still figuring its way through the new social media world and unfortunately the women usually get to become attached to rulings caused by the men because of the commonality of membership,” said Greenberg. “Recruiting gets impacted in all this along with email, Facebook, etc.”

He also addressed the history of approving credentials and the sometimes unfair nature of denying independent journalists.

“In the early NCAA days the approach to media was ‘y’all come to our tournament, whoever you are, within reason,’ as the organization tried to attract coverage,” he explained. “Then as it got more businesslike with the women, and a need to establish order, a large part of the men’s requirement began to slip into the women’s lingo. In an effort to avoid ‘cowboys,’ my description, many times some people doing good work found themselves denied access, which is unfortunate and a bit unfair.”

“But it is an evolving process. Size of press row and interview rooms fed into this, although that is less of a problem in larger arenas. However, as print media shrinks—the real number last year would stun people—some more doors are going to have to open. And, of course, the NCAA is running its own internal media show these days, so in some ways they are trying to stifle competition somewhat I think, although work at sites—print or independent—that look reputable, they will incorporate through links into their coverage.”

I told him that the experience that I have had, along with SwishAppeal.com, when dealing with the credentialing and the WNBA, is completely different. In the past year, the WNBA not only expanded its social media reach via Twitter.com, Facebook.com and live blogging, they have also reached out to online publications granting access to players, coaches and administrators.

“I think you have it easier [with the] WNBA, because of their levels,” he said, “and, in some way they are where the NCAA was at the outset even though they are now over a decade old.”

Parker, a member of the United States Basketball Writers Association, along with Greenberg, says that the organization intends to discuss the credentialing issue during its women’s awards breakfast Tuesday morning in San Antonio.

In response to a question regarding the regarding the one million unique views, Rick Nixon, the Associate Director of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, said the organization does review the policy annually.

“In fact we review this criteria each year to make sure that those online agencies that are being credentialed are reaching the most fans,” said Nixon. “We know that there are many online sites that are exclusive to women’s basketball and that every year more are springing up.  Our current criteria asks that online agencies reach a minimum of one million unique users per month.”

He added that social media metrics are not a part of their selection process.

Hueter interviewed McCall and I this morning and posted the audio on WomenTalkSports.com. Listen to the interview and read Hueter’s summary of the conversation.

• NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four credential process: Bloggers at home this weekend

Part 1

Post-Arkansas

For years after leaving Arkansas, Richardson did not interview for a coaching job at any other school, another indicator, according to him of the double standard black coaches endure in college sports. While controversial figures like Bob Knight and other fired coaches received second chances, Richardson said that because he challenged Arkansas, he was overlooked.

"No one’s ever given me that opportunity," Richardson told ESPN in 2007. "No. I wrote this one time, I think I’m the only head coach in America, with my credentials, that when jobs are open, has never [been] interviewed."

In the meantime, he held coaching clinics, gave speeches and hosted the annual Nolan Richardson Charity Golf Tournament in memory of his daughter.

He took his coaching skills to the international level. He served as the head coach of the Panamanian National Team from 2005 to 2007. And in March 2007, Mexico named him head coach of the country’s national team, a natural fit for him since he was immersed in Mexican culture as a child.

At last in 2008, he entered talks with Arkansas State, but negotiations fell through and he dropped out of the running for the job.

Back in T-Town

The new BOK Center in Tulsa

This past summer a group of investors announced plans to launch a campaign to bring a WNBA team to Tulsa. League president Donna Orender joined Tulsa Pro Hoops LLC at the July 22, 2009 press conference.

Lead investors, Oklahoma City businessmen Bill Cameron and David Box, recruited Richardson to commit to coaching the team even before they secured a WNBA franchise for the city.

While he has never coach women before, he earned plenty of praise from colleagues in the coaching ranks who were confident that he would succeed at the new task.

“I worked with Nolan for nine years. He has a passion for the game,” said Texas A&M women’s basketball head coach Gary Blair during Big 12 Media Days in late October.

Blair was the head coach of the women’s team at Arkansas from 1993 to 2003.

“He also has a passion for young ladies, as most of you know,” continued Blair. “His daughter died of leukemia. His wife was one of our biggest fans. They used to come to our ball games in Arkansas, and the kids would love to go up and talk to her. I think it’s a perfect fit. I think he’ll do very well, particularly if he’s getting Detroit’s team.”

Richardson was grateful for the kind words.

“I appreciate that very much,” he said. “I’m excited about what I’m about to undertake.”

He is confident that the team he inherits from the now defunct Detroit Shock, who are moving to Tulsa, will make his job enjoyable because they know what it takes to win a championship.

“I’m excited about the fact I’ve got a team that’s got some veteran players that’ve been there and done it and know what it takes to get it done. All those things make it a job that I can really go in and concentrate on.”

Addressing the fact that he is new to coaching women he says “I always thought coaching is coaching, whether it is men or women, you know you’re still coaching and teaching and that’s what I enjoy doing.”

NBA legend Bill Laimbeer, the Shock’s coach for several seasons, also came in the WNBA without experience coaching women on the pro level but he led the team to three championships in six years.

Richardson “followed the women’s game as a fan” but now that he is a coach, his passion is to add another championship to his list.

When asked about the players he’s most excited about he talked about Deanna Nolan. “I’ve kept an eye on her and followed her.”

He mentioned Alexis Hornbuckle because “she comes from a tremendous program.”

He also said Cheryl Ford “is impressive.”

He seemed unperturbed by questions in reference to getting the Shock veterans accustomed to his “40 minutes of hell” and adamant about its potential for success in the WNBA.

“That’s my trademark, that’s my game plan,” he said. “These women are professional women and they are on the highest level….They’re capable of playing the style that I would love for them to play. It’s an up-tempo style on offense and an up-tempo style of defense. We don’t want to back down on one end of the floor to play good on the other end of the floor.”

Given that at Arkansas he was able to fit Oliver Miller, a “6-foot-9, 270-pound pizza belly” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) and “blob” into his system, he might succeed.

Richardson admits that he will be watching a lot of tape to study his future team and the league but is undaunted. Once of his main tasks he says is reaching out to his new team.

“I have to get information out to the young women, the Shock to let them know I’m really happy and proud of what they’ve accomplished.”

He also has to assemble a staff and help get the word out in the local community. He is looking forward to renewing his bonds to Tulsa.

“I’m going back and I’m really looking forward to rekindling, getting some of the old friends and some of the people that supported us so well with a new brand of basketball…that will really get the excitement that we used to have in those days back.”

When talking about the benefits of the city, he sounds like a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

“The thing about the Tulsa area,” he says, “it is the cleanest, greenest city that I’ve seen and I’ve seen a lot of places.”

He was especially excited about the city’s new arena.

“Where we’re going to be playing at the BOK Center, I guarantee there’s not a facility in the country that’s better than where we’re going to be playing our games,” he said. “Tulsa’s got so much going for it and yet it’s not considered one of the big-time places.”

Putting It All In Perspective

Before Richardson begins coaching in the league, his life will be documented in a book written by New Mexico State University English professor Rus Bradburd, Forty Minutes of Hell: The Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson .

“I’ve never read a sports book I would describe as operatic until now,” said Dave Zirin, author, A People’s History of Sports in the Unites States. “Nolan Richardson’s story, both unique and universal, would challenge the most seasoned biographer, but Bradburd’s libretto is heartbreaking and inspiring. This is the finest sports biography I’ve read in years, hands down.”

The book goes on sale in February 2010.

With over 40 years of sports history behind him, Richardson is still amazed by a few things. For one, having a basketball-loving man of African ancestry in the White House.

“I thought in my lifetime I would never see a black president,” said Richardson. “It just makes me feel much more pride for who I am and what I am and what I’ve tried to accomplish by having a [black] man that has now become the president, who is a youngster to me.”

But Richardson said he also never thought he would become the head coach of a predominantly white southern university.

A Time of Healing

Arkansas celebrates the 1994 title in 2009

History, at least the time involving his tenure at Arkansas, has come full circle. In March the school held a two-day “Celebration of a Championship” commemorating the 15-year anniversary of the 1994 title. Nolan had not attended a home game since leaving Arkansas years ago but he said that it was important to have a “healing process” in reconciling what happened.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve been on this campus,” he said during the celebration’s news conference in the interview room at Bud Walton Arena. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this room. But it still remains the same in my heart."

And back in his hometown of El Paso, there is a middle school and a recreation center named in his honor.

Related:

• The rocky road back to Tulsa: Nolan Richardson returns, Part I
• WNBA Tulsa a hot topic at Big 12 Conference women’s basketball media day
• WNBA Tulsa

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) named five-time Olympian and four-time gold medalist Teresa Edwards as a member of the  2009 class to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame presented by Allstate.

Teresa’s statement on being inducted:

For me, it’s the highest of highs because I’ve always looked at the Olympics as being the best that you could possibly get for women’s basketball. For me, it’s the most important honor ever. To be in the company of Muhammad Ali and Wilma Rudolph, that’s huge. It’s kind of like, pinch me, because I still can’t believe it.

There’s too many memories from the Olympics to pick just one. I think the greatest has always been my first. You can never top the first time. Even though I did return, you can never top that feeling of everything being so wonderful and being the first time. I think ‘96 was huge because it changed the face of the women’s game in the States. To be a part of the ‘96 team, that’s probably my all-time greatest team. Just the magnitude of it all, every Olympics had an equal importance to me and the reason I was able to continue to go back. I have a lot of great memories, a lot of great coaches, I’ve had a lot of great teammates, a lot of great travel. Most of all, you can’t top the feeling you get once you step on top of that podium and get that gold medal around your neck. That’s the biggest, brightest moment an athlete can have

Teresa Edwards is the most decorated Olympic basketball player, male or female, with four gold medals and one bronze medal in five Olympics. She is the USA’s only five-time Olympic basketball player and one of only three five-time Olympic basketball players in the world, joining Oscar Schmidt of Brazil and Andrew Gaze of Australia. She is also one of only three U.S. Olympians to win gold in four different Olympic Games, joining former teammate Lisa Leslie and sprinter Carl Lewis. Only five other non-U.S. athletes have accomplished that feat.

Edwards played on the 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Teams. Those teams combined to achieve a 31-1 record. Only the 1992 team failed to win gold, falling in the semifinals to the Unified Team, but still salvaged bronze.

Finalists must be retired from Olympic competition for at least four years following the last Olympic competition to qualify. Five individuals are inducted in each Hall of Fame Class. The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame Class of 2009 will be formally introduced and honored August 12 at a banquet-style induction ceremony at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame was established in 1979 to celebrate the achievements of America’s premier athletes in the modern Olympic Games. The first U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame class was inducted in 1983 during ceremonies in Chicago. In 2004, after a 12-year hiatus, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame was revived through the support of the Allstate Insurance Company as the presenting sponsor.

The Gillom Sports Center at Ole Miss is named after basketball legends and sisters Jennifer and Peggie Gillom.

"It’s hard to comprehend; it’s so amazing. Race always becomes an issue, especially at Ole Miss because of the past. To have two black women (so honored), it makes it more humbling for Peggie and myself. It makes you feel like you’ve done something right in your life."

Jennifer Gillom to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Gillom will be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday, June 13, 2009 in Knoxville, Tenn.

Posted via email from hoopfeed’s posterous

Swoopes during her visit to the White House with the Houston Comets, 2001.

It has happened to some of the most famous people in modern history, including Malcolm X and Michael Jackson. I remember the shock and heartfelt panic in my chest when news broke in the spring of 2002 that the contents of a random storage locker being auctioned off for unpaid rent contained a large cache of speeches, journals, and notes by Malcolm X.

My alarm stemmed from worrying that those precious artifacts of African American history might be lost without the care and cataloguing that could be provided by a museum or university archive.

Two years later, a similar incident happened when a priceless trove of Michael Jackson memorabilia was sold including items from the making of the groundbreaking Thriller album to home movies of The Jackson Five that had never been seen by the public.

Now it seems that some valuable pieces of women’s basketball history may be in jeopardy of being auctioned off willy-nilly because of unpaid storage fees.

Martin Jordan, a retired oil field worker, bought items from a storage unit in Lubbock, Texas, on May 22. Little did he know of the treasures it contained.

Imagine his surprise when he realized that he was in possession of the personal effects of someone who was not only a subject of Texas lore but who was also an internationally recognized athlete.

“It blows my mind,” said Jordan to the The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “I’m flabbergasted.”

Jordan plans to sell most of the items on eBay.

The newspaper broke the story on Tuesday and word of the discovery has many women’s basketball fans shaking their heads and questioning how something like this could happen, especially given the millions of dollars in career earnings that Swoopes has made even if she did have to file for bankruptcy a few years ago.

Considered one of the best players in women’s basketball history, Swoopes led the nearby Texas Tech Lady Raiders to the national championship in 1993 and was key in helping the now-defunct WNBA Houston Comets earn four  titles.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist knew she had a storage unit in Lubbock according to her agent Kim Blackwell. It was rented during her previous marriage to Eric Jackson. But she did not know that the contents had been sold, said Blackwell in a statement to the Avalanche-Journal.

“Of the items mentioned, Ms. Swoopes regrets learning that the contents included letters from fans,” the statement reads. “Ms. Swoopes hopes that the monies, derived from sales on E-Bay, will be put to use in servicing the goodwill and interests of the Lubbock community.”

Jordan, who now makes a living reselling goods at flea markets, plans to sell most of the items online. And I’m sure the paradox of her son having the same name as the random owner and future seller of pieces of her history is not lost on her.

Items in the storage unit include: (Photo gallery of items, The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

• A 1996 U.S. Olympic team towel
• 1993 Kodak Women’s All-American trophy
• A blue sequin formal dress
• Four BMW tires
• Basketballs
• Basketball uniforms
• A jersey that says #23, Michael Jordan
• Wedding gifts
• U.S. Olympic team towel
• Correspondence about contracts and endorsements
• A box of Nike “Air Swoopes”
• Graduation cards from friends and family
• Swoopes’ diploma from Texas Tech

The lesson from all of this is painfully obvious. If luck is on Swoopes’ side she may be able to stop the sale of the items like the family of Malcolm X did after the icon’s belongings were found. They were turned over the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City on a street bearing his name. Michael Jackson, on the other hand, was not so lucky. An unnamed European bidder bought the majority of the found collection.

As a graduate of Smith College, I spent many hours as an undergraduate doing research at the world renowned Sophia Smith Collection.

It houses archives of women’s history and is in the same building where the very first women’s basketball game was played in 1892.

It is a hallowed place where prized documents are preserved and displayed in a temperature-controlled environment. They are treated like luxurious jewels.

I hope that Texas Tech or some other institution will take the opportunity to buy the collection so they will not only own a piece of women’s basketball history but archive and display its items in a proper setting.

So to Smith College, I’ll be contacting you soon to let you know that these items are for sale and to say that I think they would be a great asset to the school’s already rich collection.

And to women’s basketball athletes, do this research nerd a big favor—no, make that two favors:

1) Be active in writing your own history by never losing track of artifacts of your career.

2) Contact your alma mater or another institution now to get help in learning how to start preserving your legacy. Archives specialize in the preservation of fragile items like paper and can tell you how to best take care of them.

This whole episode brings to mind a blog post respected sports writer Mechelle Voepel wrote the other day about women’s sports needing more storytelling. Well, for me, a part of building that canon of storytelling is preserving the sport’s history.

As the WNBA regular season kicks off in just a week and a half, I think of the league’s 2009 slogan “Expect Great.” Of course I expect great but more than that, what I really hope for is that generations from now, we will be able to actually “Remember Great” because we have all played a part, whether as a player or a storytelling fan, in preserving the legacy of the sport we love.

P.S. Mr. Jordan, you could at least give Swoopes her college diploma.