Northwestern’s Richardson Resigns To Take Job At Clemson

Northwestern head coach Kyle Richardson is headed to Clemson to serve as an offensive assistant with the Tigers.  Richardson, who became head coach for the Trojans in 2011 after Jimmy Wallace retired, won 2 state championships during his tenure and played in 3 state championship games.  His overall record was 58-13 in his 5 seasons, including a 13-3 record in post-season action.  In addition to 2 state championships and 3 Upper State titles, Richardson’s teams won 3 straight WRHI City Championships and boasted an 8-2 record versus intra city foes Rock Hill and South Pointe (including an undefeated 5-0 against arch-rival Rock Hill).  Richardson also led the Trojans to 5 straight playoff appearances and 4 region championships.  From a national standpoint Richardson led the Trojans to 2 of their 3 National rankings in the school history.  2013 Trojans finished tied for highest National Ranking of any school from the state of SC when they finished #7 in the USA Today poll. Before becoming head coach of the Trojans Richardson served as the offensive coordinator.  Richardson led the Northwestern offense for 9 total years while leading an offense that set and rewrote multiple state offensive record and placed Northwestern in the National record book in 10 different categories.  Richardson also coached national/state record holder receivers  Dupree Hart, Robert Joseph, and NFL Pro Bowler Cordarrelle Patterson along with mentoring record breaking Quarterbacks: Will King (Furman), Justin Worley (Tennessee and Chicago Bears), Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State) and current Trojan QB Gage Moloney.

Richardson picked up numerous region and statewide coach of the year honors during his tenure.  In 2014, he was named the Carolina Panthers Coach of the Year and became a finalist for NFL National Coach of the Year.  Richardson was also named Nike Coach of the Year of the Southeast and Max Preps Coach of the year for the South along with being named National High School Federation Coach of the year for South Carolina.  With his new role at Clemson, Richardson will serve as the Senior Offensive Assistant, handling day to day offensive duties with the Tigers.  Richardson leaves a Trojan team that returns a large portion of last year’s talent and many are pointing to Northwestern as the odds on favorite to repeat as state champions.  According to Northwestern principal, James Blake, the school will name an interim head coach immediately and begin the process of interviewing in the near weeks what is sure to be a national search for the next head coach. Richardson was not available for comment at the time of this release but will be releasing a statement in the near future.