John Richardson III, who took over as the interim head coach at D2 Elizabeth City State on January 8th, has officially had the interim tag removed. Here’s the statement that ECSU issued today announcing the move:

Elizabeth City State University Athletics announced on Thursday, March 21st that John Richardson III has been named the Men’s Basketball Head Coach in a press conference held in the Marion D. Thorpe Administration Building.

Native to Aulander, North Carolina, Richardson has over 20 years of Division I collegiate coaching experience and has served as an assistant coach at Old Dominion University and Virginia Tech University. He has been a successful coach at every stage of his career, which also includes multiple high school state championships in the state of Virginia.

His achievements include clinching the regular season and tournament championship as well as a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament berth in 2019, and a conference championship in 2010.
Richardson has already demonstrated his winning pedigree, as he won his first game as interim coach. He also led the team to victory in their first-round competition in his first CIAA tournament appearance.

“We are elated to have Coach Richardson join our team and we look forward to partnering with him to reach higher levels of academic and athletic success in our men’s basketball program.

Richardson is a 1995 ECSU graduate, where he was a two-year letter student-athlete and a part of the men’s basketball program under the leadership of CIAA Hall of Famer Coach, Dr. Claudie Mackey.

Working with student-athletes is something that fuels Coach Richardson’s passion, and he has always voiced his mission to positively impact them.