Bob Richey: 5 things to know about potential South Carolina basketball coach
With the Frank Martin era officially over in Columbia, Furman University basketball coach Bob Richey has been mentioned as a possible candidate to be South Carolina’s next head coach.
Here are five things to know about Richey:
South Carolina ties
Most of Richey’s playing days — and all of his coaching career — have been in South Carolina. Richey was born in New Orleans but moved with his family to the Palmetto State in the second grade.
Richey played in high school at Florence Christian. He was the SCISA 3A Player of the Year, led the Eagles to a 28-2 record and state championship his senior season.
After high school, Richey signed with Tennessee Temple college in Chattanooga but transferred to North Greenville University to play his senior season.
Richey’s first job was at Charleston Southern, where he spent five years as an assistant before joining the Furman coaching staff in 2011. He was promoted to head coach when Niko Medved took the head coaching position at Drake in 2017.
Fan of Eddie Fogler
Growing up, Richey went to many South Carolina games and was a big fan of Gamecocks’ basketball and coach Eddie Fogler.
Fogler had success at South Carolina, leading the Gamecocks to the school’s lone Southeastern Conference title in 1996-97 and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances.
“I decided I wanted to do this at 12 years old,” Richey said in 2017 on the “Rich Take on Sports” podcast. “Most people, it was Michael Jordan or Shaq. For me, it was Eddie Fogler. Coach Fogler, he was it to me. We went to all the games growing up and got to see the SEC championship. I always remember as a young child and being addicted to the game of basketball, how cool it must be that he gets to do it for a living.”
Furman success
Since taking over at Furman, Richey has been one of the winningest coaches in Division I. His 70.7 winning percentage ranks in the top 10 of current Division I coaches.
Richey has four 20-win seasons in five years, though he has not led Furman to an NCAA tournament. The Paladins made it to the Southern Conference championship this year before losing to Chattanooga 64-63 on a last-second shot.
Recognized as a top young coach
In 2020, ESPN ranked Richey in its top 40 coaches under 40 years of age in college basketball.
Richey was ranked No. 5 behind former UNC Greensboro and current Cincinnati coach Wes Miller, former Xavier coach Travis Steele, former LSU coach Will Wade and current Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton.
“Richey has a career record of 41-13 [at the time] in the league and has yet to guide the Paladins to the NCAA tournament,” John Gasaway wrote. “How can that be? See No. 1 (West Miller, UNC Greensboro) on this list, above, and keep in mind that Wofford was undefeated in the SoCon last season. One of these years, though, the Dins will be in.”
Beating the big guys
One of Richey’s signature wins at Furman came in 2018 when the Paladins defeated defending national champion Villanova 76-68 on the road Nov. 17.
The win over Villanova was one of two by the Paladins over Final Four teams from the year before. Furman defeated Loyola-Chicago 60-58 on Nov. 9.
Furman also defeated Atlantic Coast Conference member Louisville 80-72 in 2021.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 1:05 PM.
