Kansas coach Stasha Richards to lead women's basketball

Stasha Richards

A Kansas community college coach will serve as the Patriots new head women’s basketball coach, University athletic director James Vilade announced Tuesday.

"UT Tyler is very pleased to have Stasha Richards leading our women’s basketball program,” he said in a written statement. “Stasha is a very talented coach who has made outstanding contributions to women’s basketball as a coach and a player."

Richards was a four-year letter winner for Baylor where she played for current head coach Kim Mulkey and former coach Sonja Hogg. Richards helped lead the Lady Bears to the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and 2002. She was the lone senior on the 2003 Baylor team that advanced to the Women’s NIT championship game, Vilade said.

Since 2007 Richards has led the Fort Scott Community College program and is credited with the overall success of the NJCAA Division I program, according to the University.

In her time at Fort Scott, Richards produced three Division I prospects, a two-time All-Conference player, a Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year, a two-time All Region player, and an NJCAA All-American.

During the 2006-2007 season, Richards served as the assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky University where she worked with forwards and posts and was responsible for scheduling, practice planning, film editing, scouting, travel planning, and serving as the academic liaison for student-athletes.

A Houston native, Richards also spent a year each as assistant coach at Clarendon College and Crockett High School after graduating from Baylor.

Richards said she sees plenty of promise in her new role at the University.

“The instillation of self dignity and pride for our players will be the cornerstone of success for the Patriots,” she said. “The UT Tyler community will be excited to watch our women’s basketball student-athletes give everything they have in their hearts on a daily basis for an entire season. We cannot take shortcuts in anything we do, on the floor or in the classroom. The one thing no one can ever take away from a student-athlete is their education and the impact they left on the University.”