Head Coach Keith Richard

Coming off a stretch of four postseason appearances in seven years, Keith Richard begins his 13th year at the helm of his alma mater. Richard’s historic turnaround of the ULM program began in 2014-15, which was his first season without APR sanctions, which he inherited when he took over.

In 2018-19, Richard led ULM to its second straight postseason appearance and fourth in five years. The Warhawks posted 19 wins and advanced to the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT). ULM’s dynamic offense averaged 79.2 points per game, the most by a Warhawk squad since 1993-94, and buried a school-record 353 3-point field goals, topping the record set just a year prior. Senior Daishon Smith earned Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year honors. Smith was also named first team All-Sun Belt while sophomore Michael Ertel picked up third team honors.

The 2017-18 season saw the Warhawks return to the postseason with a berth in the CIT. ULM was prolific from 3-point range, knocking down a then-school-record 288 3-pointers. Freshman Michael Ertel earned the first Sun Belt Freshman of the Year award in program history, while junior Travis Munnings was named second team All-Sun Belt and senior Sam McDaniel earned third team recognition.

Richard coached the team to back-to-back 20-win seasons for just the third time in school history during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. It marked the first time ULM had back-to-back 20-win seasons since 1989-90 and 1990-91. His team won 24 games in 2014-15 and 20 in 2015-16. Richard also brought the Warhawks to the postseason each year after a run to the finals of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) in 2014-15 and the CIT in 2015-16.

Upon conclusion of the 2014-15 season, Richard was named both Sun Belt Conference and Louisiana Coach of the Year after completely rebuilding the program on and off the court. He posted the third-biggest turnaround in the country from 2013-14 and coached the Warhawks to became the first team ever from the Sun Belt Conference to play a game in the month of April.

Richard also coached All-Conference First-Team players in back-to-back years. It started with Tylor Ongwae in 2014-15 and was followed by Majok Deng in 2015-16. Furthermore, Richard saw Justin Roberson become the first SBC Defensive Player of the Year in school history in 2015-16.

Richard has brought life back to Fant-Ewing Coliseum - a place where the Warhawks have been tough to beat as of late. ULM finished 14-3 at home in 2018-19 and attracted an average of 3,341 fans per game. The Warhawks are 59-19 at home over the last five seasons. ULM finished a perfect 13-0 at home in 2015-16 and have three other seasons with four home losses or less since 2013-14.

Over the course of Richard’s first four years, ULM was sanctioned with penalties of scholarship reductions, practice limitations, postseason ban and loss of non-conference games due to previous poor academic scores prior to his arrival. Before the 2014-15 season, the NCAA lifted all sanctions against the program after its outstanding academic improvement.

The Warhawks won the SBC team academic award three straight years from 2012-15. They posted the conference’s best cumulative grade-point average each year win to earn the award.

ULM also earned back-to-back Team Academic Excellence Awards from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. In 2012-13, ULM was one of only 21 NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs to be honored for achieving a team cumulative GPA above 3.0. In 2013-14, the Warhawks were the only team in the Sun Belt Conference to earn the award and the only Division I institution in the state of Louisiana after tallying a perfect 1,000 APR score.

Richard returned to his alma mater to become ULM’s seventh men’s basketball head coach on April 22, 2010. He became the second ULM men’s basketball coach - joining Mike Vining - to have also been a student-athlete and an assistant coach for the program. He was with the Warhawks in both capacities for six of the program’s seven NCAA Tournament appearances in the 1980s and early 1990s.

A proven winner, Richard has been a part of all five of ULM’s winningest seasons in program history as either a coach or player. He was an assistant coach in 1992-93 when the program won 27 games, and also in 1990-91 when ULM won 25 games. Both years resulted in NCAA Tournament berths.

As a student-athlete at ULM, Richard bridged the transition from Lenny Fant to Benny Hollis to Vining. He played on Fant’s final team, played two seasons for Hollis and then completed his playing career on Vining’s first team. ULM won three Trans-America Athletic Conference championships during his four years and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 1982, the school’s first-ever appearance, and the NIT in 1979. He twice led the team in assists and was team captain in 1980-81 and 1981-82.

Following his playing career, Richard spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at ULM (1984-86) as his alma mater won the Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles in 1985, earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Richard moved on to Marshall University for three years from 1986-89, helping the Thundering Herd win two Southern Conference crowns and a Southern Conference tournament title. Marshall participated in the 1987 NCAA Tournament and the 1988 NIT while Richard was on staff.

He returned to ULM for the 1989-90 season, spending five seasons as an assistant coach. In those five years, ULM won four Southland Conference regular season championships, four Southland Conference tournaments and made four appearances in the NCAA Tournament (1990, 1991, 1993, 1994). He departed in 1994 to join the staff at Louisiana Tech.

In his first season at Louisiana Tech, Richard helped the Bulldogs to the second biggest turnaround in the nation as they won 14 games after winning just two in the season prior to his arrival.

The following year Richard was promoted from assistant coach to associate head coach, spending three seasons in that capacity. He helped the Bulldogs reach the championship game of the Sun Belt Tournament in 1997, the school’s first appearance in five seasons.

Richard became the head coach at Louisiana Tech prior to the 1998-99 season, guiding the Bulldogs for nine seasons. In his time at the helm of Louisiana Tech, Richard compiled a record of 150-117, the third-most wins in school history. In nine seasons, Richard had 11 players named all-conference, including three-time NCAA rebounding champion Paul Millsap, who went on to be drafted by the Utah Jazz. This season, Millsap will begin his ninth season in the NBA and the second with Atlanta Hawks.

During Richard’s tenure at Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs went on the road and won money games against the likes of Auburn, Baylor, Memphis (coached by John Calipari) and Texas Tech (coached by Bob Knight).

In his first season as head coach, Louisiana Tech won the Sun Belt regular season championship. Richard was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year and two players, Lonnie Cooper and Craig Jackson, earned all-conference accolades.

The next year, Richard guided Louisiana Tech to a 21-win season, the school’s first of three 20-plus win seasons under Richard. Gerrod Henderson and Jackson earned All-Sun Belt honors that year, with Henderson named the Sun Belt’s Most Valuable Player.

In 2001-02, Louisiana Tech moved from the Sun Belt into the Western Athletic Conference, where Richard immediately turned the Bulldogs into a contender for the conference crown, posting a 22-10 overall record and 14-4 in conference play. Led by Henderon, who earned All-WAC honors, Richard’s Bulldogs earned a berth in the NIT, where they defeated Louisiana-Lafayette and Vanderbilt before falling to Villanova.

Richard took the Bulldogs to the postseason again during the 2005-06 season as Louisiana Tech won 20 games and earned a trip to the NIT. That year, Millsap was named as an All-WAC performer for the third consective season while also leading the nation in rebounding for the third-straight season.

In nine years as the head coach at Louisiana Tech, Richard’s teams posted a conference record of 90-60, going 32-14 in three seasons in Sun Belt and 58-46 in six years in the WAC. At ULM, Richard returns to the Sun Belt where he entered as the league’s 10th winningest coach in conference games, with a .696 winning percentage.

Prior to returning to guide his alma mater, Richard spent the past two seasons as an assistant coach at LSU, where he helped the Tigers win the 2008-09 SEC regular season championship and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina.

Richard and his wife Holly have three children: sons Luke and Lance, and daughter Lexie. He earned a bachelor’s degree from ULM in 1982 and a master’s degree from ULM in 1986.

Richard’s Coaching Career:

2010-pr. – ULM (Head Coach)
2008-10 – LSU (Assistant Coach)
1998-07 – Louisiana Tech (Head Coach)
1995-98 – Louisiana Tech (Assistant Coach)
1989-94 – ULM (Assistant Coach)
1986-89 – Marshall (Assistant Coach)
1984-86 – ULM (Graduate Assistant Coach)