One of the biggest upsets in WPIAL basketball in the last decade did not occur on the court but around the court.
The biggest surprise was a successful and animated head coach crossing over to the “other side” and becoming a top-notch high school basketball official.
That is the amazing story of former Plum boys basketball coach Ron Richards.
“I have an incredibly simple skill set,” Richards said. “I have been involved in basketball my entire life, and I can’t imagine what I would do in the winter without basketball. I’m also not willing to learn anything new (outside of basketball) at this point in my life.”
Richards never thought about coaching or officiating when he was a high school player at Apollo-Ridge in the late 1970s and early ’80s or playing college basketball at Alliance College until 1985.
He jokes he’s the third leading scorer in Alliance history because the school closed two years later.
It was when he transferred to IUP after his playing days to get his education degree and teaching certification that he started thinking about coaching.
He was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Apollo-Ridge, before landing a coaching gig at Red Land High School in Central Pennsylvania.
He returned to the area and ended up getting the head coaching job at Plum, where he was the Mustangs’ bench boss for 17 seasons over two stints, the first one of nine years and the second lasting eight seasons.
It was in his final year in 2017 that he shocked those close to him by sharing the idea about making the transition from coaching to officiating.
“I think a lot of people thought I was joking or had some sort of ulterior motive, which I didn’t,” Richards said. “Honestly, we were playing Penn-Trafford, and Dom DeFrancisis was one of the officials, and I told him I was going to hang this (coaching) up soon and he asked what I was going to do next. I said I was thinking about officiating, and he said if you are serious, give me a call when you’re done.”
Richards is now in his seventh season as a PIAA official and continues to enjoy every minute of being part of the game he loves.
Richards had a reputation of being a vocal coach who wasn’t afraid to share his view of a call whether officials wanted it or not.
“It’s not an easy job,” Richards said of officiating. “You’d be surprised, and I realize it now, how many rules we as coaches absolutely didn’t know. We just bluffed a lot of times and acted like we did. I try to be the official on the floor I would have wanted when I coached. Just be quiet, officiate the game, hustle, communicate with the kids and realize it’s the coaches’ and players’ game, not ours as officials.”
Richards and his wife Heather have talked for years about moving south once she retires from her job in North Allegheny School District.
That could happen in the early portions of 2025 or a year down the road. Either way, this could be his final season of officiating, at least in this area.
“I do the best job I can with the understanding of knowing how much time goes into it for the coaches and players, and I give them the proper amount of effort that they deserve,” Richards said. “That is what it’s all about. As long as I am physically able to keep doing those things, I will because I enjoy it. It keeps me around the game.”