Alabama A&M women’s basketball coach Margaret Richards has received a four-year contract extension through the 2023-2024 season.
The extension comes on the heels of the program’s most-successful season since becoming a Division-I member.
“We are excited to make this investment into Coach Richards and the future of the Alabama A&M women’s basketball program,” Director of Athletics Bryan Hicks said. “Coach Richards has been a valuable asset to our program, creating a winning culture among our student-athletes on and off the court.
“We’re excited to have Coach Richards on board for years to come.”
During her first four seasons at Alabama A&M, Richards has led the women’s basketball program through an era of significant improvement, elevating the Lady Bulldogs into the upper echelon of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
This past season was a historic campaign, with Alabama A&M posting a 17-13 record and reaching the SWAC tournament semifinals before the event was postponed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Lady Bulldogs finished 12-6 during SWAC play.
The 17 wins were a new program record for victories against Division-I opponents, and sophomore forward Dariauna Lewis was selected as a first-team BOXTOROW All-American and the SWAC Newcomer of the Year.
“I am grateful, and thankful, that the Director of Athletics Bryan Hicks and President Dr. Andrew Hugine have provided me with an opportunity to continue leading this program,” Richards said. “I look forward to continuing to build our program in the right direction, both athletically and academically.
“I have a great group of assistant coaches who have worked extremely hard at helping us turn this program around.”
Alabama A&M’s future appears bright.
The program only graduated one starter, senior guard Jameica Cobb, from this past season’s team.
“We’re going to continue working toward winning a championship,” Richards said. “Our program returns a great group of young ladies who have been instrumental in our success, and we have added a great signing class that we’re extremely excited about.
“We are excited about what the future holds for our program.”
Photo Courtesy AAMU Athletics
