PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Years ago, Diane Richardson was an entrepreneur whose finance company employed thousands. She is now the new head women’s basketball coach at Temple University.
She takes over the Owls after an impressive five-year run at the helm of the program at Towson University, where she led the Tigers to their first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2019.
But she also takes the latest step of her journey after a career in the business world.
“It was an investment firm,” said Richardson in our latest 1-on-1 with Matt Leon podcast episode.
“I did a lot of speaking across the country because I was talking about the power of saving money. I started out in neighborhoods like mine where we grew up, not even thinking about saving money, and talked about the importance of it, the importance of going to your [human resources department] and choosing the benefit of your retirement. We were very successful in doing that across the country.”
Richardson pivoted her company to working with federal agencies, then morphed it into a mortgage company, expanding it to about 2,500 employees.
She said the financial windfall from her success allowed her to donate to girls’ sports programs, where she started attending practices and met girls who looked up to her. So she tried her hand coaching an AAU team.
“I saw the interaction that I had with my young ladies and how it motivated them to get into that second gear. And we ended up winning and having a winning summer,” said Richardson. “It's more about relationships with young ladies than it is about X's and O's. And at that time, I said ‘I think I want to do this.’”
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As Richardson simply put it, “I just love doing it.”
Matt talked with Richardson about why Temple was right for her, how her business background gets infused into her coaching philosophy and how she motivates her players, and her personal athletic success including making an Olympic track and field team.
Listen below in your podcast player.
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