Release courtesy of Dickinson Athletic Communications
(Carlisle, Pa.) - Following a truly stellar career as the head swimming coach at Dickinson College, Paul Richards has announced he will retire at the end of the academic year. During his time at Dickinson he also served as the Aquatics Director, Chair of the Physical Education Department and a valued member of the faculty.
Coach Richards was actively involved with many groups and many community events on campus. He has been supportive of many different student groups and provided mentorship and leadership, not only to his own students and student-athletes, but anyone who needed it. He served as an advisor for a number of campus organizations, including Relay for Life, Scroll and Key and Spectrum.
In his 26 seasons at Dickinson he compiled a 200-102 record with the women's team, recording his 200th at Washington College in January and had a 174-98-1 mark with the men's program. He recorded his 500th win on November 8, 2019 and finished with 506 combined in his career.
The Red Devil men captured the Centennial Conference dual-meet title in 2004 and placed second at the 2014 CC Championships. The Red Devil men and women combined for a 22-4 mark in 2001-02 and produced 20 wins in 2011-12 with the men's team earning five All-America honors that season.
Jason Adams '14 earned his third Centennial Conference Outstanding Performer of the Meet honor in 2014 and was a four-time All-American. In 2017, sophomore Olivia Lyman '19 received Outstanding Performer of the Meet honors, winning the 200, 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events. She broke five school records during her career and set Centennial Conference and Centennial Conference Championship Meet records in the 500-freestyle in 2016. She swam to a pair of All-America honors in 2019 and was named a Fulbright Scholar.
Under Coach Richards the swimming program produced has two Fulbright Scholars and has had a remarkable number of student-athletes inducted into the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, recognizing college and university graduates with the highest grade-point-averages in the country. In every semester since Richards took over the program in 1994, at least one of Dickinson's swim programs have earned All-Academic Team awards from the College Swim Coaches Association of America.
Before Richards arrived at Dickinson, he had a highly successful career at Mary Washington College in Virginia where he led his team to nine conference championships. He captured two titles in the Atlantic States Swimming Conference and led the men to Capital Athletic Conference titles in 1991, 1992 and 1993 while the women's program won four straight from 1991-1994.
During his career, Richards produced seven All-Americans at Hartwick, 37 at UMW and has added nine honors during his tenure at Dickinson. He has been named the Coach of the Year nine times, earning seven in the Capital Athletic Conference and one each in the Atlantic States Swimming Conference and the Centennial. Earlier this year he was voted into the South Central Chapter Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame with the induction ceremony scheduled for the end of May.
Richards is a 1975 graduate of Bloomsburg and earned a M.S. in sports sciences and aquatics administration at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1990. He looks forward to spending time with his wife Jeanette, who retired from Dickinson after working for 16 years in the Dean of Students office, and his dog Jake. His son, Paul, was also employed by Dickinson at one point, working in the bookstore before graduating from Carlisle High School in 2006. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and now works as the director of communications at the University.
Coach Richards was been a valuable and integral member of the Carlisle, college and athletic communities. He has built and sustained a remarkable legacy while proving to be an outstanding role model throughout his career.
Dickinson Director of Athletics Joel Quattrone echoed those sentiments as well, stating "It has been a privilege to have worked with Paul Richards. While Paul's knowledge of swimming stroke mechanics and meet strategies are well known, it is the care and thoughtfulness shown to each student-athlete he has coached that has made him so special. An incredible career, not just by surpassing 500 victories, but the countless number of individuals he has impacted in such a positive way. How lucky am I to call him a colleague and friend!"
Be sure to check out the spring issue of the Dickinson Magazine which will have a feature on Coach Richards.
