Decision due soon on basketball coach

? Nolan Richardson’s bid to keep his job as Arkansas coach will be decided by the middle of the week.

Richardson and university President B. Alan Sugg met for more than three hours Monday, and Sugg said he would decide in a day or two whether to overturn Chancellor John White’s decision to buy out the last six years of Richardson’s contract for $500,000 a year, about half its face value.

“I’m still in the process of reviewing Dr. White’s decision to terminate,” Sugg said. “I have a great deal of personal and professional respect for coach Richardson. This is a tough issue, and I’ll do my best to make the very best decision that I can.”

At a news conference after the meeting, Richardson released university documents he said showed that, less than two weeks before his contract was terminated, Sugg and White held him in good standing.

Richardson’s contract gave the university the right to end the coach’s employment without giving an excuse.

White announced the university was buying out Richardson’s contract after the coach said twice publicly following a Feb. 23 loss at Kentucky that, if the school would buy him out, he would leave.