Emanuel "Book" Richardson worked as an assistant coach for Sean Miller at Xavier from 2007 to 2009 and at Arizona from 2009 to 2017, when Richardson was arrested and charged with multiple counts of bribery and fraud.
Richardson, who pled guilty in Jan. 2019 to a federal bribery charge and served three months in prison, told ESPN's Myron Medcalf that he wishes Miller well at Xavier but added that the two haven't had a real conversation in five years.
Richardson added that he's seeking the same opportunity to coach again that Miller received when XU brought him back in March.
From Medcalf:
"I got tremendous love for the dude," said Richardson, who hasn't had a real conversation with Miller in five years. "I wish we could sit down and rap. I wish we could go get some crab legs and hang out a little bit. But that may not be in the cards ever again and that's OK. I wish him well. I want Xavier to get to a Final Four. ... I do want him to win."
The connection between Miller and Richardson has enhanced the scrutiny Xavier's new head coach has endured. When asked if Miller had ever directed him to commit NCAA violations to enhance the program during his time at Arizona, however, Richardson paused.
"You get so caught up with the pressure of 'I gotta perform, I gotta perform, I gotta perform, I have to perform,'" he said. "If I don't get a kid, what else is my value? 'I'm worthless. I can't coach. I'm not that good.' No one knew what I was going through with that. No one knew that I didn't think I was good enough."
Richardson told aspiring agent Christian Dawkins that then-Arizona head coach Miller "bought" Deandre Ayton, according to an FBI wiretap audio played for jurors at the 2019 federal trial.
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