Richardson hopes good luck continues

• By PERRYN KEYS
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Nov 26, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — Must’ve been his lucky day.

Shortly before noon Tuesday, the annual Bayou Classic news conference was winding down inside the Superdome. Folks were shaking hands, waving goodbye, gobbling up what remained of the coffee and fruit near the podium where two football coaches and a host of dignitaries had spoken.

As Southern coach Pete Richardson walked closer toward the lobby of the big building, near Poydras Street, Richardson spotted some loose change on the artificial turf.

He crouched, dropped his right hand to the plastic grass and rounded up 17 cents — a dime, a nickel and two pennies.

And yes, if you were curious, both pennies were lying heads-up on the grass.

Richardson grinned. He noticed that.

Of course, superstition holds that people who find a heads-up penny are destined to have good luck for the rest of the day.

Wait a minute. Is Pete Richardson — the venerable coach; who’s all business; who’d rather watch game film than “Dancing with the Stars;” who’s about to walk the sidelines in his 16th Bayou Classic — a superstitious man?

The mere question was surprising to some of his players.

“I wouldn’t say so,” wide receiver Curry Allen said. “I don’t know; I really don’t. I know this: He’s a by-the-books coach. To tell you the truth, coach Richardson is the type of coach who only cares about winning.”

Well, not entirely.

While Richardson is, at heart, a coach’s coach — he has won five Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, four black national championships and sports a 12-3 record in the all-important game against Grambling — he can also be a marketer and salesman.

About a half-hour before Richardson’s mini-money-grab in the end zone, at a gathering that included Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, the Southern football coach made a powerful three-minute address at the podium.