Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson suspects the university could be working on a buyout, but neither he nor his agent had been contacted by the school as of late Wednesday night, Richardson's Little Rock-based agent Kevin Scanlon told ESPN.com by phone following the Arkansas-Mississippi State game.

	Will Nolan Richardson be waving goodbye to Arkansas? He suspects there's a chance.

Scanlon said Richardson, who has been embroiled in controversy over remarks he made about the media and critical fans, had concerns that there could be truth in Wednesday's Hawgs Illustrated report that a $3 million buyout was in the works.

On his radio show after Arkansas' loss at Mississippi State on Wednesday night, Richardson said: "You can expect a lot of things to be said and sometimes when there is smoke there could be fire. I don't want to speculate. I have not been contacted. Maybe I'll meet tomorrow, maybe I won't, but all I can say is I'm the basketball coach right now."

Richardson later addressed the media.

"So what can you take away from me?" Richardson said. "I've won everything there is to win. Name me coaches that can say that. ... I tell my players, 'Don't fret for me baby.' If I get to leave the University of Arkansas, I graduated -- and I did it my way."

Chancellor John White disputed a report that Richardson would quit for $3 million Thursday, but said the 17-year Arkansas basketball coach had some explaining to do.

"There has been a lot of damage overall to the program. Coach Richardson recognizes that," White said Wednesday night. The question of Richardson's continued employment -- even if the coach apologized for his remarks -- can't be answered yet, White said.

"We have to have that discussion. There's going to have to be a very frank discussion of where we are and about going forward," White said.

Scanlon said Richardson had planned to apologize to fans and reporters on the Razorbacks' radio network Wednesday, but had to talk to his team after rumors spread that he would accept a $3 million buyout of the last six years on his seven-year contract.

"He wanted to fix this thing," Scanlon said. "The message was way, way off what he wanted. He wanted to make clear that 99.9 percent of his fans" treat him well.

Scanlon said the coach would apologize at his regularly scheduled news conference Thursday. Richardson customarily meets with reporters two days before each game; Arkansas plays Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Asked whether Richardson's job was safe, White said: "The real issue here is, 'Where is he?' That's going to influence what the answer to that will be."

Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Huckabee came to Richardson's defense Thursday.

"I think he's one of the truly great people I've known, and I have appreciated that he has overcome more than most people. That's one of the things that a lot of people now don't fully comprehend," Huckabee said while attending a Southern policy meeting here.

"They haven't walked in his shoes. They haven't taken his journey. They may not fully understand some of the deep feelings that he carries inside. There's a wonderful success story in Nolan Richardson," the governor said.

When a university meeting with Richardson might be scheduled wasn't known. Thursday is the first day that Richardson, White and athletic director Frank Broyles would be in Fayetteville on the same day since Richardson made his remarks. White said it might be better to wait until after the end of the season to hold the meeting.

Richardson has six years remaining on his contract, which Scanlon said does include a $3 million buyout clause.

Scanlon said Richardson's tirade Monday was prompted by a newspaper column last week that called into question his newcomer class for next season.

"That really upset him," Scanlon said. "Coach Richardson is an outspoken person and he was really upset."

Scanlon said Richardson and his players were told of the Hawgs Illustrated story at 6:30 p.m. CT, 90 minutes prior to Wednesday's tipoff.

"Can you imagine what it was like for the coaches and the players?" Scanlon said. "He told me the players were crying in the locker room, and that he was crying, too. They wanted to know if it was true. This is right before the game. It was terrible. He was hurt. He was disappointed."

Richardson said Saturday after Arkansas' loss to Kentucky that if the school would buy out his contract, "they can take the job tomorrow." He has just over six years left on his contract at $1.03 million per year.

Wednesday night's game at Mississippi State was the Razorbacks' first since Richardson complained Monday about unfair treatment by the media and fans.

Richardson, who won the national championship in 1994 and took Arkansas to the title game the next year, has led the Razorbacks into the postseason 15 of the past 16 seasons. This season, however, they are 13-14, and could miss the postseason for the first time since his first year at Arkansas in 1985.

At a news conference Monday, Richardson said he's closing practices and limiting access to reporters.

"My practices will be closed to the media from this day until I decide when I'll open it again, if I ever open it again while I am still the basketball coach here," he said.

"Do not call me ever on my phone, none of you, at my home ever again. Those lines are no longer for communications with me."

He also expressed disappointment that all of the reporters at the news conference were white.

"When I look at all of you people in this room, I see no one look like me, talk like me or act like me," he said. "Now, why don't you recruit? Why don't the editors recruit like I'm recruiting?"

Richardson said Tuesday in an interview with the host of his television show that social life "is not that good for a black athlete" in Fayetteville. He said the characterization might not sound right, but that Arkansas is a "place that they come to play basketball or come to play football."

Often, athletes choose a school because of a coach, he said.

"That's the part that I think fans and people and media don't really understand, that get caught up with this utopia-type thing that everything is so great up here," he said.

Andy Katz is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.