Would Richardson have been a "Far" better choice? Maybe - but we'll never really know.
"FWIW", at the time the decision had to be made it was already May of 2003 - When ALL college teams had finish spring workouts and NFL teams were, what? 6-8 weeks from starting summer camps? The "Universe" of possible candidates at that time could, by definition, ONLY include position coaches (Shula, Richardson, and Croom had all been fired from NFL OC jobs and were working as NFL Position coaches), RETIRED coaches, OR current NFL/NCAA Coordinators and HC's whose departure would have
devastated any team they left - in other words, we'd have been hiring a "straight up" QUITTER who screwed his team by leaving.
In May, 2003, Richardson's record as a HC in the NFL is 4-15. In college, 32-34. (of course, that was at Memphis, were "no one can win" - except the current coach who is 18-8 in two seasons.)
As an NFL Coordinator 8-24 (only 2 years and went back to a position coach) , as as a college OC (72-74 at Arkansas) 17-14-2, which got him the Memphis State job.
Not that Mike Shula's resume was much to speak of, at least for a prospective College HC. In May 2003, Shula had Zero years college coaching experience, and Zero years HC experience at any level, and he had gone 35-29 (2-2 in Playoff appearances) in 4 years as an NFL OC, before he went back to a position coach job.
Richardson was well regarded by some who had played at Alabama in the 1960's, but had a uniformly mediocre career since college; Shula was a beloved former player (and "hero") from the 1980's with few personal accomplishments, but a "Golden" pedigree.
Respectfully, to look at EITHER of them (or really ANY Realistic prospective coach) say ANY possible candidate at that time was "Far" better than any other is purely a matter of opinion, and utterly UN-provable by any objective measure.
FWIW, looking back in hindsight, "IMO" UA probably would have been MUCH better served at the time to simply name Carl Torbush as "Interim" coach, and spend the next 7 months looking for a permanent replacement. Torbush wasn't "HC Material", but he had HC experience, AND, much more importantly, knew the players, knew the Game, knew the SEC, and knew the recruiting situation. Had UA gone that route, "Worst case", IMO, Torbush probably wins 5-7 games, probably at least identifies some legitimate recruiting targets, and we probably hire a decent replacement in December 2003.
But the flip side?
Had we hired a competent coach in December 2003, We probably aren't looking to replace THAT coach in December 2006. So maybe it's all just as well, huh?
Roll Tide!