lit a candle 3h agoMy mum called me about this, I'm in Manila for work and it was the middle of the night there but she knew I'd want to know. 102-84 isn't a huge record but she said my grandad used to talk about that 1971 Final Four team like it was yesterday. 90 years old. Rest easy coach.
Their story
Jim Richards was an American basketball and golf coach and athletics administrator whose service to Western Kentucky University spanned more than four decades. He was the Hilltoppers' head men's basketball coach from 1971 to 1978, later the university's director of athletics, and a member of the WKU Athletic Hall of…
Jim Richards was an American basketball and golf coach and athletics administrator whose service to Western Kentucky University spanned more than four decades. He was the Hilltoppers' head men's basketball coach from 1971 to 1978, later the university's director of athletics, and a member of the WKU Athletic Hall of Fame.
Richards was born and raised in rural Adair County, Kentucky, and played basketball for one year at Adair County High School. He was recruited to Western Kentucky to play baseball by the coach E. A. Diddle, better known for his basketball teams, and was a four year letterwinner from 1955 to 1958, leading the Hilltoppers in batting in each of his four seasons and captaining the side in his last three. Diddle also introduced him to officiating high school basketball. He graduated in 1959.
He began coaching at Auburn High School and then moved to Glasgow High School, where in 1968 he guided the Scotties to the Kentucky state basketball championship. That year he returned to Western Kentucky as an assistant to John Oldham. In his three seasons on Oldham's staff the team went 62-19, won two Ohio Valley Conference titles and reached the 1971 Final Four, losing to Villanova in double overtime before beating Kansas in the third place game.
When Oldham stepped away from coaching in 1971, Richards became head coach. Over seven seasons he compiled a 102-84 record, won OVC regular season titles in 1972 and 1976 and tournament titles in 1976 and 1978, and took the Hilltoppers to the NCAA Tournament in 1976 and 1978. He was named OVC Coach of the Year in 1974 and 1976. His 1977-78 team recovered from a 3-8 start to reach the tournament and beat nationally ranked Syracuse 87-86 in overtime to reach the Sweet 16.
After leaving basketball in 1978 he coached the men's golf team and served as coordinator of men's athletics until 1986. All eight of his golf teams had winning seasons, he remains the winningest men's golf coach in the program's history, and among his recruits was the future PGA Tour player Kenny Perry. He was also the first executive director of the Hilltopper Athletic Foundation, then director of alumni affairs from 1986, before returning to athletics as interim director in September 1993. He was named director of athletics in July 1994 and retired that November.
Jim Richards died on Friday 9 October 2026, aged 90, the university announced. He had remained close to the program to the end: head coach Hank Plona said Richards had told him only that Monday that the team would be a great defensive side this year.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), WKU Athletics, Glasgow News 1, Bowling Green Daily News and WBKO. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“He loved WKU Basketball as much as anybody.”
WKU director of athletics Todd Stewart, 9 October 2026
“Coach Richards was a special coach, a special man and a special Hilltopper.”
WKU head coach Hank Plona, 9 October 2026
Photos
1Jim Richards
by People Forever
your grandad had good taste, that Kansas game for third place was something