Paul Richards - Men's Lacrosse Coach - University of Richmond Athletics

Paul Richards

Title:
Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
Email:
prichards@richmond.edu
Phone:
662-3149

2025 marked Paul Richards' 12th year as defensive coordinator at the University of Richmond for head coach Dan Chemotti. Over the past 12 seasons, Richards has orchestrated one of the nation's top defenses year after year.

Alongside Head Coach Dan Chemotti, Richards has led the Spiders to a 118-67 (.637) record, including nine years of 10 or more wins and the Spiders have won over 80 percent (54-12) of their conference games under the duo's leadership.

In 2025, Richards helped lead the Spiders to its best season yet. The Spiders posted a record-breaking 14–3 overall mark, including a perfect 5–0 run through Atlantic 10 play to claim their first-ever A-10 regular-season title and a second conference tournament championship in three years. Richmond earned its first NCAA Tournament victory, upsetting No. 8 North Carolina, 13–10, in Chapel Hill in a defining moment for the program. The Spiders ranked as high as No. 5 in the national polls, the highest ranking in program history, and joined only two-time defending champion Notre Dame as the only 2025 NCAA Tournament teams ranked in the top 10 nationally in both scoring offense and defense.

With Richards' help, the Spiders set a program record with a nine-game win streak and defeated four nationally ranked opponents — its most ever in a single season — including No. 7 Virginia, No. 13 Georgetown, No. 19 UMass, and No. 17 Saint Joseph’s.

Under Richards' leadership, the Spiders ranked second nationally in scoring margin, third in scoring defense, fourth in caused turnovers per game, and eighth in clearing percentage. Several defensive standouts earned national and conference honors: close defensemen Hunter Smith and Mitchell Dunham, short-stick defensive midfielder Jack Pilling, long-stick midfielder Tommy Stull, and goalie Zach Vigue were all named All-Americans. Vigue repeated as Atlantic 10 Goalie of the Year, Smith was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and both Stull and Dunham earned spots on the All-Atlantic 10 First Team.

Dunham, who ranked third nationally and second in program history with 38 caused turnovers in a single season, was selected 21st overall by the Utah Archers in the 2025 PLL College Draft — becoming the first active Spider ever drafted into the Premier Lacrosse League.

2024 was another great year for Richmond's defense. The Spiders reached the conference tournament finals for the tenth-consecutive season and goalie Zach Vigue was named an Inside Lacrosse All-American honorable mention as well as the Atlantic 10 Co-Goalkeeper of the Year. Vigue posted a career-high .556 save percentage and was third in the country in goals against average at 9.26 en route to helping Richmond be third in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 9.38 goals per game. Vigue finished the season ranked 12th in the nation and first in the A-10 with a .556 save percentage. Richmond's man-down defense was also one of the best in the country in 2024, ranking eighth at 0.745. Under Richards, Jack Pilling was named an Inside Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention, while Jake Kapp (First Team), Hunter Smith (First Team) and Jack Fabean (Second Team) earned All-Atlantic 10 honors. Richmond's goals against average of 9.33 was the fourth-best ever by the Spiders, while the team picked up a program-record 530 ground balls under Richards.

In 2023, Richards guided the Spiders to its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and the first-ever Atlantic 10 title after taking down rival High Point, 15-8, in the title game at Robins Stadium. Jake Saunders was named a First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection while long-stick midfielder Tommy Stull was named to the Second Team and short-stick defensive midfielder Jack Pilling and defenseman Hunter Smith were named to the All-Rookie team. Under Richards, the Spiders ranked third in the A-10 in scoring defense (11.25), second in caused turnovers per game (9.67) and third in ground balls per game (30.69).

2022 saw Richmond win it's third SoCon title and finish the season ranked in the top 10 in the country in scoring defense (8th) and caused turnovers per game (9th). Under Richards' guidance, Jake Saunders was named an Inside Lacrosse All-American Honorable Mention, while defenseman Ray Baran was named a First Team All-Conference selection.

Richards helped the Spiders win the SoCon regular season title in 2021. He guided long-stick midfielder Sean Menges to the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year award and All-America honors. The Spiders led the country in caused turnovers, forcing 10.62 per game in 13 games last year. The Spiders ranked first in the SoCon and eighth in the country in scoring defense, limiting opponents to only 9.62 goals per game. Richmond was third in the country in clearing percentage, leading the league with a 90.2 clearing percentage.

In the shortened 2020 season, the Spiders posted a 4-3 record on the year finishing the season ranked No. 18 in the country. Richmond was 22nd in scoring defense through seven games, holding opponents to 10.57 goals per game.

Richards helped the Spiders win their second-straight SoCon Tournament title in 2019, defeating High Point on the road in the title game. The Spiders' scoring defense ranked 13th in the country, allowing 10.12 goals per game. Their man-down defense was third in the nation at 79.8 percent. Defendere Jason Reynolds earned First Team All-SoCon honors for the second-straight season, starting every game and collecting 34 ground balls. Defender Ray Baran was named to the SoCon All-Tournament Team for his play leading the Spiders to the championship.

Richmond won the Southern Conference regular season and SoCon Tournament titles in 2018 with an 11-6 overall record and a 6-1 mark in league play. During his time at UR, the Spiders are 26-6 all-time in league games. Austin Cates and Jason Reynolds earned All-SoCon honors as leaders of the Spider defense. Cates recorded 46 ground balls leads the Spiders and his 14 caused turnovers rank second. He is universally recognized as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Southern Conference as referenced by his 2018 Preseason All-Conference nod and two prior All-Conference honors.

Reynolds as a freshman anchored the Spider defense that needed to be completely overhauled after losing its entire first unit to graduation at the end of a historic 2017 campaign. He collected 26 ground balls to go with 13 caused turnovers in 14 starts.

In 2017, Richards guided Richmond to the top defensive unit in the country, allowing just 6.25 goals per game, highlighted by a shutdown performance of defending national champion UNC in a 6-5 Spiders victory. Two of the stars of that unit, Brendan Hynes and Benny Pugh, became the first All-Americans in program history, as well as both being drafted in the Major League Lacrosse draft. Pugh was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year while leading the NCAA in goals against average and save percentage.

The Spiders continued their defensive success in 2016, finishing third nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 7.44 goals per game. The team also finished first in the nation in caused turnovers and clearing percentage for the second-straight year. Junior Brendan Hynes ranked second in the nation in caused turnovers, while junior Ryan Dennis ranked ninth nationally in the same category.

In 2015 Richmond finished 6-0 in the new league and boasted the nation's second-most stingy defense. The Spiders allowed just 7.44 goals per game, within less than half a goal per game from the nation's leader. Richmond also led the country in clearing percentage and finished fourth in the country in scoring margin, winning on average by more than four goals per game. The Spiders boasted the league's Defensive Player of the Year in Brendan Hynes, while goalie Benny Pugh was second nationally in both save percentage (.590) and goal-against average (7.42) for the year.

Richmond made the jump from 12th in 2014 to sixth in caused turnovers per game in 2015. Richmond also was the second-best in the nation in man-down defense, allowing opponents to score in less than a quarter of their man-advantage opportunities. In the program's 33 games, the opponent has been held to less than 10 goals in nearly half of them (16).

Despite close results in the early going in 2014, it took the sixth game of the season for the team to break through and get a win against Vermont in Durham, North Carolina on March 8. That was the start of a run of four wins in eight games, including a pair of Atlantic Sun Conference games that propelled the young squad into the four-team ASun Championship Tournament. The Spiders beat both the top seed and host Mercer and second-seed High Point, avenging two regular-season losses and stringing together back-to-back wins for the first time in team history, and the one time that it mattered, as they earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA. The Spiders played at Air Force in the NCAA Tournament.

Richards arrived in Richmond after serving as an assistant coach at Cornell University for the three previous seasons. At Cornell, Richards was in charge of face-offs and substitutions, while also assisting with all facets of the offensive and defensive units. Richards also served as the recruiting coordinator for the Big Red during his time.

During the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Richards helped direct a face-off unit that ranked 14th and 16th in the nation, respectively, with a 55 percent rate. Richards also assisted an offense that ranked in the top-10 nationally the past three years.

Prior to his time at Cornell, Richards spent the 2010 season working as the senior assistant coach and offensive coordinator at Washington College after spending one year as a volunteer assistant coach at Goucher College in 2009.

As a player, Richards was a first-team All-ECAC selection and North-South Senior All-Star at Loyola while serving as a team captain in 2008. He was also named to the preseason Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List as a senior and was tabbed as a 2008 National Strength and Conditioning Association All-American.

Richards finished his college career with 29 goals, 27 assists and 159 groundballs. Following graduation, he was the 37th overall pick in the 2008 Major League Lacrosse Draft and appeared in six games for the Washington Bayhawks.