Chase Richardson was the first addition to Ray Harper’s staff at JSU in 2016. Prior to his arrival in Jacksonville, Richardson served as an assistant coach at Troy during the 2015-16 season. He served as Harper’s Director of Basketball Operations at WKU from 2013-15, after working as the Hilltoppers’ video coordinator for one season. He was an interim assistant coach for three months.
Richardson is part of a coaching staff that has averaged 20 wins per year since arriving in Jacksonville and twice broken the record for the program’s Division I single-season wins mark. Over the past four seasons, Jacksonville State has tallied 80 wins and appeared in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament each year. JSU is one of only three programs to qualify for the league’s postseason in each of the last four seasons.
In his fourth year at Jax State in 2019-20, Richardson was recognized as one of the “50 Impactful Low Major Coaches” in the nation by Silver Waves Media – a distinction awarded to only the top assistant coaches in the 12 low-major conferences.
Richardson helped guide the Gamecocks to a program-best 24 wins in 2018-19, breaking Jacksonville State’s single-season wins total for a second year in a row. It marked the first time the program logged three straight seasons with 20-or-more wins since joining the Division I ranks. In addition, the 2018-19 season set a record-low for losses. Prior to the season, a JSU team had never finished a year with single-digits in the loss column.
In 2017-18, JSU scored a then-record 23 wins with Richardson’s guidance. The Gamecocks qualified for their second national postseason tournament with a berth in the College Basketball Invitational. Jax State claimed wins over Canisius and Central Arkansas in the first and quarterfinal rounds, respectively, en route to its first ever wins in a major postseason tournament.
His first season at Jacksonville State saw the program earn its first Division I title, first appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first 20-win season since 2003. After being picked dead-last in the OVC Preseason Poll, the Gamecocks rattled off consecutive wins over Southeast Missouri, Belmont and UT Martin as the No. 4 seed to win the OVC Championships title. JSU went on to play Louisville in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Richardson received national recognition from the National Association of Basketball Coaches following the Gamecocks' 2016-17 run in the OVC Championship and trip to the NCAA Tournament when he was named to the Under Armour 30-Under-30 Team. The NABC honor recognizes the nation's top basketball coaches under 30 years of age.
In his stint at Troy, Richardson coached one of the nation’s top 3-point shooters in All-Sun Belt and NABC All-District player Wesley Person. Person made 96 3-pointers in 2015-16, second-most in a season in Troy history, and ended the season with the nation’s longest streak of consecutive games with a triple at 60.
While at WKU, Richardson was part of the 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013 teams that won Sun Belt Championships and appeared in the NCAA Tournament. During his final year at WKU, Richardson was also an assistant coach at Warren East High School in Bowling Green, Ky. After a year with the Raiders, Richardson returned to his alma mater as a volunteer assistant for the 2011-12 season.
Richardson is a a 2011 graduate of WKU, where he received a degree in social studies. He served as a student manager for the Hilltoppers during his undergrad years, while serving as an assistant coach at Warren East High School in Bowling Green for the 2010-11 season and as a volunteer on the WKU staff in 2011-12.
He graduated from Elizabethtown High School in his hometown of Elizabethtown, Ky., in 2006.
Updated May 2020
