| David Richards spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Division II Merrimack College in Andover, Mass. |
David Richards, who played for four years in the PAC as a guard at Westminster (Pa.), will try to help Chatham's young men's basketball program become more competitive in that same conference. The university named Richards as its new head men's basketball coach on Thursday.
"After a strong nationwide search, we feel that David is the right person to guide our program to success," said Chatham athletic director Leonard Trevino in the school's release. "His enthusiasm is contagious and he is extremely well prepared."
Richards' previous coaching experience has come at the Division I and Division II levels. He worked on Joe Gallo's staff at Division II Merrimack the past two seasons. The Warriors made the NCAA Tournament both seasons. Previously he spent six seasons at Robert Morris in Pittsburgh as the Colonials' director of basketball operations.
Richards played in more than 100 games over four seasons at Westminster (Pa.) where he was the Titans' team captain as a senior in 2008-09. Richards was also member of the Westminster 2006-07 team that finished in first place and lost in the PAC title game to Bethany.
He replaces Andrew Garcia who left after three seasons to take an assistant coaching position at Division I University of South Carolina Upstate. Garcia went 22-56 as the Cougars' first men's basketball head coach. Chatham, which has played NCAA Division III women's basketball since 1998, started the men's program when it started admitting male undergraduate students in 2015.
Chatham finished 7-18, 4-14 in the PAC in 2017-18.