Scott Richardson is in his fourth season as an assistant track and field coach for the Tigers. Richardson coaches Auburn's pole vaulters, high jumpers and multi-event competitors, and heads the staff's recruiting efforts. In 2008, Richardson coached Raevan Harris to a third-place finish and All-American honors at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, as well as an SEC Outdoor Championship and an appearance in the finals at the U.S. Olympic Trials. In 2007, he coached Mark Johnson to All-American honors in the pole vault, and guided Harris to the NCAA Championships in the high jump both indoors and outdoors. Harris also equaled the Auburn outdoor school record and finished 10th at the U.S. Outdoor Championships that summer. During his first season, Richardson helped coach Michelle Williamson to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the high jump. During each of his years at Auburn, Richardson also spearheaded the recruiting efforts that brought several highly-touted newcomers to the Plains. Richardson spent the previous seven years as Associate Head Coach at Army, where his teams won 15 indoor and outdoor conference championships. He coached 24 men to 50 Patriot League individual titles and mentored 18 women to 37 conference crowns. Richardson also helped athletes responsible for establishing Patriot League conference records in the men's indoor and outdoor 4x400m relay, the men's and women's 4x100m relay, the women's 60m, the women's indoor and outdoor 200m and the women's indoor and outdoor long jump. His pole vaulters at Army won 11 conference championships, and three earned All-East status. Richardson helped lead Ryan Keaton to three straight Patriot League titles (2003, 2004 and 2005) and three successive trips to the NCAA East Regionals. He also coached 18 sprinters to All-East accolades. His women established records in the indoor and outdoor pole vault, 60m, indoor and outdoor 200m, indoor and outdoor 400m, 500m and the 4x100m relay, while he coached men to school records in the 60m, indoor and outdoor 200m, 4x100m relay and the indoor and outdoor 4x400m relay. Richardson, who graduated from the University of Indianapolis in 1994 with a bachelor's of science in education and pre-law, served as an assistant coach at Indianapolis in 1994, before moving up to the Division I level when he accepted an assistant coaching position while working on his Master's degree in physical education at Eastern Kentucky University. During his two years at EKU (1995-96), Richardson assisted with four Ohio Valley Conference championship teams and coached Arnold Payne to a fifth-place finish at the 1995 NCAA Outdoor Championships (45.51) and All-American honors. Later that season, Payne set a Zimbabwe national record and earned a spot on the Zimbabwe national team, competing in the 1995 World Championships in Gotenberg, Sweden. In 1996, at the age of 25, he took over as the head coach at Texas-Pan American, becoming the youngest Division I head coach in the nation. There, he guided the women's and men's teams to first- and third-place finishes in the Sun Belt Conference - their best performances ever. Four women earned all-conference honors in cross country during his tenure and the women's team secured a win at the prestigious University of Texas Longhorn Invitational. Richardson earned the league's women's cross country Coach of the Year award in 1997. He then served as an assistant coach at Indiana University in 1997, before taking his post at Army. Richardson has also helped his athletes excel in national and international competition. In 2004, he guided Joe Mendel to a sixth-place finish in the 400m at the World Indoor Championships, and helped Danielle Hobson earn a berth to the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400m hurdles. Richardson is married to the former Carmen Mann, who works for the Auburn Athletics Department as a liason for international student-ahletes and heads the department's mandatory class attendance policy. The couple had their first child, Olivia Renee, on Jan. 26, 2008. |
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