May 1, 2006

By Marc Shaner, ONU Sports Information

With its 9-3 game one win over Robert Morris College (Ill.) on Tuesday, April 25, the Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) softball team gave head coach Ritchie Richardson his 500th career coaching victory.

In his 11 seasons, Richardson has put together a 501-184 overall record and averaged 50 wins per season over his last nine campaigns. Richardson took over the reins in 1995 and went 14-23. The year before Richardson arrived, the Tigers went 14-20.

"500 wins is not my personal milestone," said Richardson. "But one that is shared with a lot of outstanding players and fine assistant coaches that have come through our program over the past 11 seasons. My thanks go to all of them."

The Tigers gave Richardson win 501 with a 7-1 victory in the nightcap of their doubleheader against Robert Morris.

Richardson has guided the Tigers to 10 winning seasons in 11 years. The only non-winning season the Tigers had in that stretch, was a 28-32 finish in 2001 when Richardson was an assistant coach at the University of Illinois.

In 2003, the Tigers finished with a school record 61 wins and finished third at the NAIA National Championship.

"Each game and victory is a special time in an athlete's short college career," commented Richardson. "I hope that past and present players here at Olivet Nazarene have enjoyed them as much as I have."

Since taking over the program in 1995, Richardson has guided the Tigers to five Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Regular Season Titles, seven CCAC Tournament Championships, four NAIA Region VII Championships and four NAIA Natoinal Championship appearances. The Tigers have also won three NCCAA National Championships under his direction. He has coached nine players that were named NAIA First or Second Team All-Americans and eight players who were named Daktronics NAIA All-American Scholar-Athlete. Richardson was inducted into the CCAC Hall of Fame in the fall of 2005.

Six of Richardson's former players are either a head coach or an assistant coach.

This season the Tigers are 41-18 overall and 16-2 in the CCAC play.