The WKU Athletics Community lost one of its finest goodwill ambassadors last week in former men’s basketball coach Jim Richards.
Richards, 90, was a successful high school coach before joining the late John Oldham’s basketball staff in the late ’60s, after winning a prestigious KHSAA state championship at Glasgow High School in 1967.
Visitation and funeral services were held on Tuesday at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena, which was built eight years before the Hilltoppers’ memorable run to the NCAA Final Four. Current WKU men’s basketball coach Hank Plona brought his team to the services, along with WKU volleyball coach Travis Hudson and women’s basketball coach Greg Collins.
Mr. Richards was always on hand for WKU athletics events, and he will be remembered for his hard work and dedication, as well as the personal touch he brought to the university.
HIS SQUAD PAID THEIR RESPECTS
TO COACH RICHARDS ON TUESDAY.
FOR SEVEN SEASONS (1971-1978).
In 1978, the year I graduated from WKU, Mr. Richards guided the Hilltoppers to a dramatic overtime victory over Syracuse University at the Stokely Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee, before the Tops were eliminated by the dynamic Magic Johnson and Michigan State University.
Michigan State would win a national championship the following season, at which point Johnson left for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
I had a chance to speak to Warren County Judge/Executive Doug Gorman, the former Diddle Arena public-address announcer, and third-year WKU coach Hank Plona about Coach Richards during visitation on Tuesday.
I’m sure we’ll see a tribute to the memories of Coach Richards during the 2026-27 basketball season. The Hilltoppers will play host to Bowling Green State University in an exhibition game on October 20, before facing tradition-rich Indiana University five days later in Evansville, Indiana in their second and final exhibition game on October 25.
JIM RICHARDS’ FUNERAL SERVICES ON TUESDAY.
TO A KHSAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP IN 1967.
Regular-season play begins against former OVC rival Morehead State on November 2. Plona and his WKU basketball staff have assembled a roster with plenty of promise for the 2026-27 season.
“Coach Richards was as upbeat, and positive, as a person, as anyone I’ve ever been around in my life,” Plona said. “He was a coach, at heart, all the time … He had a great perspective, and basketball was a way to reach people, to mentor lives.”
Godspeed, Coach Richards.
CAME BY TO PAY HIS RESPECTS ON TUESDAY.