Ray Richards took over the reins for the Southeastern Oklahoma State football program prior to the 2005 season and quickly built on to SE’s successful history.

Richards has compiled a 40-43 record at SE and an overall career record of 54-73, with head coaching stints at Southeastern and Southwest Baptist.

In 2012 SE turned in a 4-6 record with a seventh place finish in the conference, which included three losses by less than one score. A total of five players earned all-conference honors on the year.

The 2011 squad opened the year with back-to-back wins but finished ninth place in the first season of Great American Conference play. SE had three all conference award winners, highlighted by first team selection Ryan Shelley who turned in the league’s best single-game receiving mark with 225 yards against East Central.

His 2010 team boasted Co-Offensive Back of the Year in the Lone Star Conference North Division Baylen Laury as well as seven first team all-LSC-N picks to go with 12 overall all-conference honorees.

In 2009, 17 SE players earned LSC-N postseason recognition, highlighted by Receiver of the year Daniel Nichols. Richard’s also coached All-American Jerome Hewitt who rewrote the SE record book in punt and kickoff returns.

In his time at Southeastern, Richards’ teams have produced 30 first team all-conference honorees, 29 in the North Division of the Lone Star Conference and one in the first season of the GAC, as well as a total of 84 all-conference honors. His teams have also won nine specialty awards in the LSC, including his own Coach of the Year nod following the 2005 season.

Richards is in his second stint at Southeastern Oklahoma State, having spent 10 years serving as the defensive coordinator from 1989-98. During that stint, his defenses constantly ranked as one of the best in the country. In 1991, Southeastern touted the top defense in the NAIA limiting opponents to 10.6 points a game. In his first season as defensive coordinator, Richards’ defense ranked second in the NAIA in scoring, holding opponents to 8.1 points a game as SE claimed the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference (OIC) championship and made an appearance in the Aztec Bowl.

In all, SE boasted a 57-40-4 (.584) record during his ten seasons as defensive coordinator, claiming two OIC titles along the way. Richards coached 43 all-conference performers and seven All Americas while at Southeastern, including Southeastern Hall of Fame defensive linemen David Hall and Elmar Perry.

A native of Elmhurst, Ill., Richards is a 1981 graduate of Northern Michigan University where he received his bachelor’s degree in physical education where he finished collegiate playing career after playing two seasons as a strong safety at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colo. At Northern Michigan, Richards moved to outside linebacker to help the Wildcats to a berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1980.

Richards began his coaching career at Loyola Prep High School in Shreveport, La. As an assistant coach before serving as a graduate assistant for two seasons at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, where he earned a master’s degree in physical education and school administration. While serving as a graduate assistant at ULM, Richards worked with the secondary in a defense that ranked at the top of NCAA Division I-AA in 1983 and 1984.

Richards then served as an assistant at Irving (Texas) High for three seasons before serving another year as a graduate assistant at Texas Tech in 1988 before accepting the defensive coordinator position at Southeastern.

Richards returned to Louisiana-Monroe in 1999 for two more seasons before taking his first head coaching challenge at Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, Mo. Richards earned Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) Coach of the Year honors in 2001 after leading the Bearcats to their first winning season in a decade.