New PV Coach at Auburn

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Scott Richardson Added To Auburn Track And Field Staff
Richardson comes to Auburn after seven successful seasons at Army.


Oct. 4, 2005

AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn track and field head coach Ralph Spry has announced that Scott Richardson has been named assistant track and field coach for the Tigers. Richardson will coach Auburn's pole vaulters, high jumpers and multi-event competitors, and will head the staff's recruiting efforts.

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 earn 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.

"Coaching in the SEC and, in particular, at Auburn has long been a goal of mine," said Richardson. "The track and field program at Auburn ranks among the nation's very elite and I consider it to be quite an honor to be working alongside Coach Spry, Coach Clayton, Coach Rolle and Coach Watson. Excellence breeds excellence and each of these coaches are outstanding at what they do. To be around such great coaches and to have one of the finest track and field venues in the world made my decision to come to Auburn an easy one. It's an exciting time to be joining the Auburn family."





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 a volunteer 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 400 meters at the World Indoor Championships, and helped Danielle Hobson earn a berth to the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400 hurdles.

"Scott is a guy that's I've always watched over the years, and I've always respected his work ethic and the success that he's had," said Spry. "He's a very sharp guy, and is somebody that will come here and help us continue to move forward. He's a real smart guy with a lot of energy. He's really excited about being here and we're excited about him being here. I think he's going to be a tremendous boost to our team and will give us some new energy."

"On my interview I was very impressed with everyone in the department," said Richardson. "I really liked the vision that Jay Jacobs and Ralph Spry shared with me on how important the track and field program is in the big picture at Auburn."