NEW YORK — After no. 22 Xavier’s 84-79 win over St. John’s on Wednesday night, Musketeers coach Sean Miller and his former assistant at Arizona, Book Richardson, spoke for the first time in five years.
The NCAA hit Richardson with a 10-year show-cause penalty earlier this month for his role in the FBI’s bribery investigation five years ago. The NCAA cleared Miller of any wrongdoing in the Arizona infractions case that preempted his dismissal in 2021.
The two had not spoken since Richardson’s arrest in 2017 for accepting bribes. But that changed Wednesday night.
After he completed his postgame radio interview, Miller embraced Richardson, whom he’d distanced himself from while the infractions case against Arizona persisted.
“He said, ‘I love you,’ and I said, ‘I know,'” said Richardson, who was an assistant on Miller’s staff during his first stint at Xavier.
Richardson also said he joked with Miller that he “nearly gave the game away” after St. John’s had cut an 18-point second-half deficit to five late in the matchup. It was only the second Division I game the former Arizona assistant had attended since his arrest, he said.
Five years ago, Richardson was one of four Division I assistants arrested for accepting bribes in what the FBI alleged was a scheme to funnel money between coaches, shoe reps and financial advisors to influence potential NBA prospects. Richardson was fired by Arizona in 2018, pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting bribes to steer players into what the FBI called “corrupt financial managers” and then served a prison sentence in New York two years later.
Arizona initially faced five Level I violations. In the Independent Accountability Resolution Process that adjudicated its case, the panel “found no violations” for Miller. The panel also penalized Richardson for “knowingly providing false information and refusing to disclose information relevant to an investigation of possible violations” before it announced a 10-year show-cause penalty for the former Arizona assistant. The penalty will greatly diminish Richardson’s chances of working in college basketball in the future.
Richardson, who helps run the New York Gauchos grassroots program in the Bronx, said he attended Wednesday’s game because he wanted to see Miller, his friend and former boss whom he’s known for 20 years, so he can move forward.
Richardson had last seen Miller at a basketball event in 2019, but the two did not talk then.
After they hugged and spoke briefly, Richardson said Miller told him that he wanted to sit down with his former assistant in the future and talk.
Richardson said the meeting was not a closure after five years of silence but an opportunity.
“I think it’s a new chapter,” he said.
