Richards enters her fourth season as head coach for the DU women's golf team in the 2024-25 season.
The four-time Summit League Coach of the Year has led the Pioneers to their sixth straight Summit League title, its 20th Division I conference championship and its 23rd-straight NCAA Tournament Appearance. In 2024, . Richards and the Pioneers were just four strokes away from their fourth NCAA Championship appearance in team history, the team's first top-6 finish at an NCAA Regional since winning the 2009 regional championship.
Under Richards guidance, Anna Zanusso was a three-time Summit League Women’s Golfer of the Year, and the Pioneers turned in record-breaking Summit League Championship performances as a team in back-to-back seasons, breaking their 54-hole record total from 2023 with an 850 (-14) team score last spring.
Prior to DU, Richards also had collegiate head coaching stints at Texas (2007-14), Vanderbilt (2001-07) and Boise State (1997-98). In addition to her three conference championships in her three seasons with the Pioneers, Richards won the Big 12 title with Texas in 2011 and the SEC title with Vanderbilt in 2004. Richards was a two-time SEC Coach of the Year (2003, 2004) in her stint at Vanderbilt. Prior to her time in Nashville, Vandy had never advanced to the NCAA Championship, a fact Richards quickly put to rest with guiding the Commodores to two NCAA top-10 finishes in her seven seasons.
In-between her time in Austin and in Denver, Richards served as the athletic director of Aspen High School, overseeing the operation of its 25 varsity sports.
The Hudson, Wisconsin, native was a multi-sport athlete at Stanford, setting foot on The Farm as the 1988 National High School Basketball Player of the Year. Richards would go on to help the Stanford women’s basketball team to the national championship in 1990, while earning All-America honors in golf before eventually being named to the Pac-19 All-Decade Golf team of the 1990s.
Richards continued her two-sport life after college, playing two seasons on the LPGA Tour (1995-96) and being inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in October, 2010.
Awards & Honors at DU -Â
- Four-Time Summit League Coach of the Year (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
- Four-TIme Summit League Champions (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
- 17 All-Summit League Selections
- Four Player of the Year Honors (Anna Zanusso - 2022, 2023, 2024, Clara Gestsdottir - 2025)
- Helped Anna Zanusso earn a sport in the ANNIKA Development Program at Old Barnwell (2024)
Prior to Denver -Â
- Aspen Valley High School Athletic Director
- Head Coach - Texas (2007-2014), Vanderbilt (2000-2007), Boise State (1997-1998)
- Assistant Coach - Texas ( 1998-2000)
- Volunteer Assistant - Stanford (1993-1996)
Additional Coaching Experience
- Coached the USA Women's Team at the USA vs Japan College Golf Championship (2006) in Tochigi, Japan
Athletic Experience
Professional Career
Stanford University
- 1993 NGCA All-American
- All-Pac-10 Conference Selection and 1990s Pac-10 All-Decade Golf Team
- 1988 National High School Basketball Player of the Year
- 1990 NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship
