After five-plus years without speaking during the federal and NCAA proceedings that have surrounded Arizona since 2017, former UA coach Sean Miller met with ex-assistant Book Richardson following Xavier's win over St. John's on Wednesday in New York.
According to what Richardson told ESPN, the meeting represented a "new chapter," with both coaches planning to talk in the future.
"He said, 'I love you,' and I said, 'I know,'" Richardson told ESPN.
An assistant under Miller at both Xavier and Arizona, Richardson was arrested in September 2017, fired by UA in January 2018 and served a three-month federal prison sentence in 2019 after reaching a plea agreement over taking $20,000 in bribes from an agent.
After the federal proceedings led to an NCAA investigation, Richardson was ultimately found guilty by the NCAA of three Level I violations -- one for taking the bribes, one for paying $40,000 to obtain a fraudulent academic record and one for providing false information to investigators and failing to cooperate with their investigation.
Richardson was handed a 10-year show cause penalty earlier this month that effectively prohibits him from coaching in college basketball until December 2032.
Miller, who was cleared of a Level I head coach responsibility charge earlier this month, coached at Arizona until the end of the 2020-21 when UA fired him for what it said were both on and off the court reasons. He took last season off and returned to Xavier, which is now 11-3 and ranked No. 22 in the AP college basketball poll.
Miller had coached five seasons at Xavier before being hired at Arizona in April 2009.
