Richardson calls a wise timeout. (College Basketball).

It had been too long since last we were visited by this Nolan Richardson, the Richardson who knows where he is headed and the path he must travel to arrive.

We caught a glimpse of him in March 2000, when his Arkansas Razorbacks shocked the SEC by claiming the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with four consecutive league tournament victories. But that was fleeting. Otherwise, he had been absent since that April night in 1995, when Arkansas played for a second straight NCAA title but was dismantled by UCLA's O'Barmon brothers.

We now know the old Nolan is back--because he's not back.

If he had entertained an approach by UTEP last week to become the Miners' coach, it would have been fair to wonder if he had been drop-kicked by one of his llamas. With Richardson, there always is the danger his ego will supersede his judgment. Not this time.

After Jason Rabedeaux cited personal concerns and resigned as UTEP head coach nine days into preseason practice, Richardson waited less than 48 hours to disclose he was not interested in coaching the Miners this season. There was only one reason for Richardson to return now: to waste no time in proving to his former Arkansas bosses they that blew it by dumping him in March. Even if the Razorbacks struggle this season, as expected, it is hard to imagine any of the university's administrators sweating UTEP's likely second-division finish in the Western Athletic Conference.

In rejecting UTEP's approach, Richardson explained he had "commitments." It sounds properly important, but the truth is this: He would have been flirting with being committed if he had jumped into the Miners' mess now.

"When you look at the program, they've only got seven or eight kids available," Richardson said on KTBZ radio in Tulsa, Okla. "I like winning too much at this stage of my life, so I'm not going to get my head beat out just to say I want to coach again."