Howdy,

The Tulsa Shock announced early Saturday morning that Nolan Richardson resigned as both general manager and head coach.

Tulsa lost at home Friday to the Phoenix Mercury, 86-78, dropping it to 1-10.

Theresa Edwards was named interim head coach. She has been the Shock's director of player personnel.

"While I am saddened to leave the Tulsa Shock at this time and in this manner, I am also very disappointed in the way we have started the year, and, as coach, I accept my share of the responsibility," Richardson said in a press release.

Richardson's brief tenure in Tulsa was as odd as it was disappointing. He was hired after an ownership group, led by Oklahoma City business men Bill Cameron and David Box, bought the franchise and relocated it from Detroit for the 2010 season.

The Shock went from being a league power to league worst last year (6-28). Moreover, they had arguably one of the most bizarre seasons in North American professional sports history — all 11 players from Detroit's 2009 team were gone before the end of the last season. They were either traded, signed elsewhere (Taj McWilliams-Franklin and Katie Smith), opted not to play in the WNBA (Cheryl Ford and Deanna Nolan) or were cut.

Richardson's time with Tulsa was unfortunate, too, given his extraordinary success in college. His teams won 71-percent of their games over 22 seasons, 17 of which were spent at Arkansas.

The Razorbacks won the 1994 National Championship, and Richardson was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Vaya con dios....