Margaret Richards enters her eighth season as the head coach of the Alabama A&M women’s basketball program.
Richards has single-handled turned the Bulldogs into one of the best in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
In her seventh season, Alabama A&M finished in a four-way tie for second with Southern, Alabama State and Prairie View A&M. The Bulldogs registered a 14-win season, going 14-15 overall and 12-6 in conference play. More impressively, Richards’ teams protected home court, going 9-0 at the newly-opened AAMU Event Center.
Also during the 2022-23 campaign, Richards coached All-SWAC second team performer Amani Free, who averaged 12.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. In addition, Richards had 14 student-athletes selected to the SWAC Commissioners Academic Honor Roll (Darian Burgin, Maya Cable, Jayla Cody, Ikia Elam, Donee’ Frazier, Amani Free, Destoni Grace, Emajin McCallop, Chynell Mitchell, Jaelynne Murray, Asianae Nicholson, LaCambria Shakespeare, Amiah Simmons and Taylor Smith).
During her sixth season, Richards elevated the Alabama A&M women’s program to a second-place finish, recording a 15-14 overall mark, including a 13-5 record inside the SWAC. The 13 SWAC victories was the most in program history.
The program also picked up non-conference victories over Samford and Florida Atlantic. Alabama A&M ended the season with a 62-54 loss in the conference tournament to Grambling State. Richards had two players selected to the All-SWAC Second Team in Dariauna Lewis and Nigeria Jones. Lewis led AAMU by averaging 15.2 points and 11.3 boards, while Jones tallied 14.8 points, 3.4 assists and 3.0 boards per game.
In her fifth season, Alabama A&M went 10-7 overall and 8-5 in the SWAC, finishing in fourth. The season highlight program victories over Troy and Nicholls State as the Bulldogs concluded the season with a 58-50 loss in the SWAC Tournament to Grambling State. Richards had two players, Dariauna Lewis (first team) and Deshawna Harper (second team) selected to the All-SWAC postseason team. Lewis averaged a double-double of 17.8 points and 13.0 rebounds per game to lead AAMU. Harper added 15.2 points, 3.6 boards and 1.9 assists per game.
During her first four seasons at Alabama A&M, Richards has led the women's basketball program through an era of significant improvement, elevating the Lady Bulldogs into the upper echelon of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
This past season was a historic campaign, with Alabama A&M posting a 17-13 record and reaching the SWAC tournament semifinals before the event was postponed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Lady Bulldogs finished 12-6 during SWAC play.
The 17 wins were a new program record for victories against Division-I opponents, and sophomore forward
Dariauna Lewis was selected as a first-team BOXTOROW All-American and the SWAC Newcomer of the Year, while guard Deshawna Harper was named Second Team All-SWAC.
Richards was named the fifth head coach of Alabama A&M women’s basketball on June 2, 2016 after a season as an assistant coach at Clemson University in 2015-16. While at Clemson, she was responsible for guards, recruiting and scouting reports.
Richards spent three seasons at Western Kentucky from 2012-15, where she helped guide the program to two NCAA Tournament appearances, two conference tournament titles and one conference regular season title. The Lady Toppers won 76 games in her three seasons, which included a 30-5 record in 2014-15. The 30 wins set a new Conference USA record, and were achieved in WKU’s first season in the conference. Richards was also part of the Lady Toppers’ impressive three-year turnaround, which saw the team win 20 games in Richards’ first two seasons, after winning less than 10 contests in 2011-12.
Prior to joining the Lady Toppers’ staff, Richards coached at North Texas during the 2010-11 season. During her year with the Mean Green, she served as the team's recruiting coordinator, and was also responsible for guard development. She spent the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach at Weber State.
Richards spent two years as an assistant under Michelle Clark-Heard at Kentucky State (2005-06, 2006-07). The two were also on the staff at Louisville for the 2007-08 season, where Richards served as a graduate assistant on the Cardinal's first Sweet Sixteen team. She was also a member of the women's basketball team at Nebraska from 1999-04, where Clark-Heard served as an assistant coach for three of those years.
Prior to joining the staff at UNT, Richards spent two seasons as the head coach at Saint Augustine College. She compiled a 33-24 record in two seasons as the Lady Falcons' head coach, highlighted by an 18-10 record and a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Western Division championship in 2009-10. In her first season, she led Saint Augustine to 15 wins and the program's first CIAA semifinals appearance in six seasons. During Richards' tenure, two Lady Falcons made the All-CIAA team and the All-CIAA Rookie team. She was also named CIAA Coach of the Week six times.
A native of Louisville, Richards starred at Louisville Central High School. She ranked second in the state in scoring during her senior season (35.5 ppg), earning first-team all-state accolades and a spot on the Kentucky All-Star Team. Richards earned her bachelor's degree in communication studies and double minored in sociology and ethnic studies from the University of Nebraska in 2003. The Cornhuskers earned a Top-25 national ranking during her senior season, and she was selected as a team captain during both her junior and senior campaigns.
Personal
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
High School: Central, 1999
College: Nebraska, 2003 (BA)
Coaching Career
Kentucky State, assistant coach (2005-07)
Louisville, graduate assistant (2007-08)
St. Augustine College, head coach (2008-10)
North Texas, assistant coach (2010-11)
Weber State, assistant coach (2011-12)
Western Kentucky University, assistant coach (2012-15)
Clemson, assistant coach (2015-2016)
Alabama A&M University, head coach (2016 to present)
Playing Career
1999-2003: Nebraska (Head Coach Paul Sanderford, Head Coach Connie Yori)
