Richards Named UT Tyler Women’s Basketball Coach
July 28, 2009

Former Baylor standout and current Fort Scott Community College head coach Stasha Richards has been named the head women’s basketball coach at The University of Texas at Tyler.

"UT Tyler is very pleased to have Stasha Richards leading our women’s basketball program,” said UT Tyler athletic director James Vilade. “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 letterwinner 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.

“Coming to UT Tyler is an opportunity to be a part of both a great basketball program and a great University,” said Richards. “I am grateful for the confidence that Coach Vilade has shown in me and I am excited about the future of Patriots women’s basketball.”

Continued Richards, “This is a thriving community with a lot of local talent in a concentrated area. Tyler is also a community that most student-athletes from other areas can relate to, thus making the recruiting process very appealing.”

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

According to Richards, they keys to success at UT Tyler revolve around encouragement and effort.

“The instillation of self dignity and pride for our players will be the cornerstone of success for the Patriots. 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,” Richards said. “We cannot take shortcuts in anything we do, on the floor or in the class room. The one thing no one can ever take away from a student-athlete is their education and the impact they left on the University.”

Richards will begin her duties at UT Tyler in early August.

Stasha Richards' Comments on…

…Coaching Philosophy
“Much will be required from everyone to whom much has been given. But even more will be demanded from the one to whom much has been entrusted”- Luke 12:48. This is one of my favorite verses because it represents the responsibility that one bears when they have been given a gift. The secret to success is to know when you have been given an opportunity to seize the moment. The tricky part is getting the student athlete to understand the gift they have been given is to represent UT Tyler on a national level through their ability to play basketball. With that gift much will be required of them and expected from them by their coaches, administrators, professors, and the community. My coaching philosophy is one that encourages each player to use her personal unique gifts as a plan to create success on the basketball court. Each player coming into UT Tyler will understand before hand what will be required of them and they will be committed completely to those goals.

…Success
Everyone in the world would love to have a recipe for success. But, the truth of the matter is there is no sure fire way to ensure anyone will be successful in anything they do. I believe that there are many elements in the equation that can greatly improve the odds. The very first this is to work as hard as we can in everything we do. We cannot take shortcuts in anything we do, on the floor or in the class room. The one thing no one can ever take away from a student athlete is their education and the impact they left on the university. My plan to implement a strong foundation in recruiting has already begun with my ties to Texas recruiting and the Jayhawk Conference. My key factors for success rely on hard work and commitment to UT Athletics. I plan is to bring in student-athletes that will leave their mark on UT Tyler forever.

…Community Service
As a former social work major, I have always thrived in community projects. At Eastern Kentucky I was proud to involve the team in many community service events like Habitat for Humanity. We had the pleasure of presenting a single mother in a desperate situation with the luxury of opening the door to her own home. There was no greater feeling than to watch her face as she put the key in the door. At Fort Scott I continued this trend by involving student-athletes in many activities, including as Upward Bound and volunteering with Community Christian Church each summer for the Trunk or Treat celebration. Understanding the need for service in the community is a trend that I will continue. Players must understand that it takes a village to make the world the place it needs to be. It is required of us to not just help make a difference, but we need to be the difference. I hope the Patriots will be a force in the community.

…Recruiting
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program. We have to do our best to win the recruiting war at home. This means that we have to protect out backyard and get as many good recruits from Texas as we can. Once we have secured our home territory, we will then venture out to other states looking for top talent and good people to fill our UT Tyler roster. Recruiting is also greatly based upon awareness. We have to create certain awareness about our program to the community. Being active in the community as well as holding various camps and clinics will provide a major boost to our recruiting pool of kids. I will actively be on the road evaluating talent and building positive relationships with high school coaches, AAU coaches and junior college/prep school coaches. You have to be a road warrior to win at this level, as a Division I assistant and former recruiting coordinator, I think I have to tools to recruit on a national level.

…Team Chemistry
The number one thing I will be concerned about as the next Head Women’s Basketball Coach at UT Tyler will be “Are we a Family?” I want to establish a feeling of family and community inside the women’s basketball program that will eventually spread all over campus. It will not be my program, it will be OUR program. It will be the community’s program and the University’s program. I will put a product on the floor that the entire UT Tyler community will be proud of. I will put a program on the floor that is the hardest working program that you will see in the American Southwest Conference or any other conference out there. The gift that UT Tyler will give these student-athletes is a chance to compete in athletics. To those that this gift is given much will be required of them by way of hard work, education, and community service. They will understand that they are not there on the basketball court just representing themselves. They will understand that this is much deeper than just a game. They will understand that they are representing and entire community. They will understand that they are representing UT Tyler. They will understand they are representing a way of life. They represent a life of hard work, excellence in academics and excellence in serving the greater Tyler area.

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