MEAC Coach of the Year Worth Richardson finished his second year leading the Norfolk State men’s and women’s tennis teams in the 2015-16 academic year. A total of seven players earned all-conference honors during his first two years with the program, and the NSU women’s team captured its first-ever regular season title in 2016.
Under Richardson’s guidance, the Spartan women finished 6-0 in MEAC Northern Division play in ’16, their first regular season crown since joining the league. A year after going 3-3 in the Southern Division for its first .500-or-better record in conference play in seven years, NSU advanced to the MEAC tournament in 2016 for the first time in five seasons.
Marta Gomar was named the MEAC Rookie of the Year, and Andrea Macchiavello earned second-team all-conference honors. In addition, Richardson was voted the MEAC Coach of the Year for women’s tennis after his team’s top finish. It marked the first time NSU took home the MEAC rookie and coach of the year awards for women’s tennis.
NSU swept the rookie awards in 2016 when Benedikt Henning was named the MEAC Rookie of the Year on the men’s side. He was also voted first-team all-conference, continuing a trend in which NSU has had at least one all-conference player every year since at least 2002. The Spartan men finished second in the Northern Division at 4-1 in 2016.
In 2015, the Spartan women knocked off 10-time defending MEAC champion South Carolina State, handing the Bulldogs just their second loss to a conference opponent since the 2007 season. In addition, Liza Gordeeva and Mafalda Lhorca earned first-team all-MEAC honors, the first time since 2003 NSU had a player named to the first team and had two players earn all-conference accolades in the same season.
On the men’s side, Pascal Domnik and Daniel Grauel were named to the all-MEAC second team in 2015 as well.
The tennis teams continued their stellar work in the classroom under Richardson. The NSU tennis squads garnered the Scholar Team awards, handed out to the athletic teams with the highest GPA’s among their respective genders, during both years under Richardson’s watch and each of the last three years as well.
In 2015, Krystal Scott and Igor Braga earned the athletic department’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards for posting the highest individual GPA’s among their respective genders, the second year in a row NSU tennis players swept those honors.
The tennis teams owned two of the four highest NCAA APR scores for the NSU athletics department in the most recent data released in May of 2016. The men stood at 974, thanks in part to a perfect score of 1,000 for the 2014-15 academic year, and the women had a multi-year score of 972.
Richardson was hired in August of 2014 as the fourth head coach in the history of the Spartan programs. He arrived at NSU after spending eight years in collegiate coaching, including the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach at William & Mary.
During his lone campaign in Williamsburg, the Tribe posted 17 wins, the fifth-most in school history, while advancing to the CAA semifinals. In total, three Tribe players and a doubles team were named All-CAA in 2013-14. The program also tied a school record by winning 20 doubles points throughout the year.
Prior to joining his first Green and Gold program at William & Mary, Richardson served as the head coach of North Carolina Wesleyan in 2012-13. Along with his head coaching experience there, Richardson spent a season as the assistant head coach at Bucknell.
He also owns a wealth of knowledge within the Hampton Roads area thanks to his stint at William & Mary and five seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Christopher Newport.
In 2012-13, he was named the USA South Coach of the Year after guiding N.C. Wesleyan to the league championship. Richardson led the Battling Bishops to a 15-10 record, including an 8-0 USA South mark. The Bishops won the USA South tournament with a 9-0 victory over Christopher Newport, earning a spot in the NCAA Division III Championship. N.C. Wesleyan posted an opening round win over Washington & Lee in the national tournament before falling to No. 4 Emory.
The Bishops finished the season ranked No. 20 nationally after being rated as high as No. 12. Individually, the team of Robert Kjellberg and Artsiom Prostak finished as the NCAA D-III runner-up in doubles, becoming the first duo to accomplish the feat in school history. Prostak was also named the USA South Player of the Year. Kjellberg finished the season ranked No. 5 nationally in singles, including the top spot in the Atlantic South Region, while Prostak was No. 29 nationally in singles. As a duo, the pair finished the campaign at No. 2 in the country.
As the assistant coach for the men’s and women’s teams at Bucknell in 2011-12, Richardson helped guide both squads to the semifinals of the 2012 Patriot League tournament. Bucknell also led the conference in Academic Honor Roll selections as the men placed nine players on the list for the spring of 2012 while the women put six players on the honor roll. During Richardson’s tenure, he helped with the development of Gregg Cohenca and Evan Zimmer, who became the first doubles team in Bucknell and Patriot League history to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships. The pair was ranked as high as No. 51 nationally and finished the campaign at No. 70.
Richardson played collegiately at Christopher Newport before joining the Captains as an assistant coach. During his tenure as a coach at the D-III program, Richardson helped mentor players that earned four All-America honors, three USA South Player of the Year awards, 18 all-conference accolades and 12 conference all-academic selections. In 2008, the squad earned its first-ever national ranking and finished the year 20-4 overall. The Captains remained among the country's best throughout the next three years, achieving a high of No. 17 in the polls during that stretch.
Richardson, who graduated from CNU with a degree in economics in 2006, won a USA South Conference Championship as both a player and a coach with the Captains. A four-year starter, his first title came as a senior in 2006, the same year he was named to the all-conference and all-tournament teams. After tying for first in the conference standings during his first season as an assistant in 2007, Richardson helped guide the Captains to the outright championship a year later. In 2008, Christopher Newport garnered the program’s first NCAA D-III tournament appearance. During his playing career, CNU posted a record of 45-24 (.652) while garnering a 71-40 (.640) mark during his tenure as an assistant coach.
Overall, Richardson has coached five different players to All-America honors (three at CNU and two at N.C. Wesleyan). He has guided players at two different schools to ITA Regional Championships in Eric Shulman at CNU in 2010 and Kjellberg at N.C. Wesleyan in 2012. At two of his stops, Richardson recruited conference rookies of the year in N.C. Wesleyan’s Johan Ljungdahl (USA South Rookie of the Year in 2013) and Bucknell’s Nick Bybel (Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 2013).
Along with his success in the collegiate ranks, he was the coach of the 2012 and ’14 USTA U-16 Mid-Atlantic Intersectional Team. Richardson led them to a second-place finish in 2014.
From 2006-08, Richardson served as a tennis pro at the James River Country Club. In 2007, he accepted the USTA-Virginia Tennis Club of the Year Award. He also was the head tennis pro at the Culpeper Sport and Racket Club.
Richardson's coaching experience includes times with the James River Tennis Academy where he trained eight youth players ranked in the section's top 10.
Additionally, he worked with several top-ranked juniors as the head coach of the 2010 USTA Mid-Atlantic Boys and Girls U-14 Zonals team in Dallas, Texas, and has served as the tournament director of the USTA Mid-Atlantic Boys U-18 L2 Challenger and the assistant director of the Adidas Camp at Mary Washington.
Aside from tennis, he spent time working in Washington, D.C., doing economic analysis for various hedge funds and think tanks.
