LYNCHBURG, Va. - Randolph College Director of Athletics Tom Galbraith announced Monday that Brooke Richards has been hired as the school's inaugural head coach for women's wrestling. Women's wrestling is one of four new sports tabbed to begin play in the 2024-25 academic year for the WildCats.

"For Randolph this is an historic achievement in the hiring process. To be able to find a candidate in the sport of women's wrestling who has experience as a collegiate women's wrestler and already has gone through the program-building process as a coach, this puts the Randolph program ahead of the mark for beginning programs across the country," Galbraith said. "Brooke's relatability with her prospective student-athletes this first year recruiting, and then next with those same women as competitor is going to be a remarkable transition to follow. And I am looking forward to seeing it."

Richards comes to Randolph from Bluefield State University Bluefield, W.V. where she was the school's first head women's wrestling coach for one recruiting season in 2022-23. In that recruiting season, she recruited 20 student-athletes to the new program. Richards mentioned a number of factors in transitioning from BSU to Randolph, including the school's commitment to the sport and the resources being put behind the launch of both the women's and men's programs for the WildCats, including a dedicated facility space.

Prior to Bluefield State, Richards was a graduate assistant at her alma mater, Tiffin University (Ohio) for the 2021-22 season, and also served as the assistant women's wrestling coach at Adrian College (Mich.). Combined between Tiffin and Adrian, she has helped coach 10 national qualifiers, a national champion, three All-Americans, and 11 Scholar All-Americans. She helped guide Tiffin to an NCAA National duals fourth-place finish and Northeast Regional Champions.

Richards was a member of the Tiffin women's wrestling team and a team captain throughout her playing career. She was a two-time Scholar All-American. She is a graduate of Tiffin with a Bachelor of Arts with a concentration in Workplace Leadership.

"Building a program from scratch is hard work but worth it," said Richards. "I do believe my past coaching experience will help me with this role. I have started a program from scratch before and loved the journey and getting to bring in your first class is the best feeling. I am excited to get to do that at Randolph." 

 

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