Up close with women’s basketball coach Richards

Richards calling plays in the Patriots Jan. 28 game against ETBU. Photo by Richard Sarmiento.

Richards, a Houston native who attended North Shore High School in Galena Park ISD, said she moved back to Texas from Kansas earlier this year to accept the head-coach position for the University’s women’s basketball team. She said the job became available in July when Terri Deike’s contract was not renewed.

Richards said she received a call about the job and thought it was a good opportunity.

“When I first came in, my goal was to establish my values and my game plan with a group of new faces,” Richards said. “I needed to earn their trust and for them to buy into the new system.” She said during high school, she aspired to play college basketball at the highest level and followed it though.

Richards said after high school she moved onto The University of Baylor where she played the forward position as a four-year letter winner under Hall of Fame coaches, Kim Mulkey and Sunja Hogg.

She said while she was attending Baylor, the Lady Bears’ record consisted of 12-2 in 2000-2001, 15-2 in 2001-2002, and 17-4 in 2002-2003.

“They had a wealth of knowledge to pass on,” Richards said, referring to her former coaches. “I tried to be like a sponge and learn as much as I could.”

She said she participated in two NCAA Tournaments in 2001 and 2002, and advanced to the Women’s NIT championship game in 2003 where the Lady Bears lost to Auburn, 64 to 63.

Richards said her aspirations in college were to earn her degree to become a social worker; but after her time in the Baylor basketball team, she had a change of heart. “After playing in college, my love for the game was still there, and I knew it had to be a part of my life, so I began coaching,” Richards said.

She said she moved on to the position of assistant coach at Eastern Kentucky University for the 2006-2007 season and later moved on to become the head coach for Fort Scott Community College.

She said she produced three Division I prospects at Fort Scott, a two-time All-Conference player, a Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year, a two-time All-Region player and an NJCAA All-American. Richards said her hope for the girl’s basketball team is to win a conference championship and to have national level reorganization.

“They have far exceeded my expectations [this season],” Richards said. “Forget a win-loss record, we have overcome more obstacles in one season than most teams or players have to overcome over a span of years.

We will be just fine. I am proud of this resilient young bunch of women. It will only make us stronger.” The woman’s basketball team is currently fifth in the American Southwest Conference East Division.