St. Louis ? University of Arkansas attorneys told federal judges Thursday that former basketball coach Nolan Richardson was given an offer in 2002 to quietly leave his job with “dignity and grace,” instead of being fired.

Richardson sat quietly behind the attorneys and simply shook his head. “That’s not how I heard it,” he said after the hearing. “They came after me.”

Richardson said he was fired three years ago for speaking out against racism at the university. He lost an $8.9 million lawsuit against the school in Arkansas federal court last year. His attorney told a panel of three judges at the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis that the lower court decision should be overturned.

Thursday’s hearing did not revolve around legal technicalities. Instead, the appeals court judges explored the fundamental issue of possible racial prejudice at a southern university where 6 percent of the students are black.

The judges spent most of their time quizzing both sides about whether Richardson’s firing was the result of racism or poor performance.

When Richardson’s attorney Jack Lavey told the panel his client was fired because of racially charged comments he made to reporters during 2002, Judge William Jay Riley asked him if there wasn’t more to the picture.

“Does it make a difference how the team is doing that year?” Riley asked.

Lavey argued that ultimately it didn’t. University officials were upset when Richardson chastised them during a press conference for treating him like a slave, or pointing out in an interview that black students at the school are not integrated into the social scene downtown.

“If you talk about race, keep it indoors and don’t go public” was the university’s attitude, Lavey said.

Richardson was fired shortly after his team lost one of the last games of the 2002 season. He had guided the Razorbacks to the 1994 NCAA title to a runner-up finish the next year. But the Razorbacks struggled to make it to the postseason in the years that preceded his firing.

Richardson said during the postgame press conference in 2002 that his job was made harder because he was treated as a second-class coach by the university.

“My great-great-grandfather came over on the ship. Not Nolan Richardson. I did not come over on that ship. So I expect to be treated a little bit different,” he said during the conference. He said Thursday that he had been referring to a slave ship when he made the remarks.

University attorney Phil Kaplan argued Thursday that the school backed Richardson time and time again during his tenure when he said the school should increase the diversity of its student body.

Kaplan argued that the university was well within the legal boundaries of its contract with Richardson when it fired him. The Razorback Foundation, the private fund-raising arm of the school, is paying Richardson $500,000 a year through 2008 to meet terms of the buyout.