Longtime Plum basketball coach Ron Richards finds new home on the court … as official

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, January 18, 2019 | 7:45 PM

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Ron Richards said he typically gets the same reaction from either a former coaching colleague or a fellow referee that sees him wearing the black and white striped officiating shirt for the first time.

“Both the officials and the coaches look at me and laugh,” he said.

Richards carried a commanding presence and a booming voice he used to let his disagreements with officials known during 23 years as a boys basketball coach, 17 of them at Plum.

There’s a little comedic value for his friends to see him become an official.

But Richards has found a new home on the court.

After stepping down at Plum two seasons ago, he reached out to friends about becoming an official and got the process started.

He’s been officiating games the last two years, starting with junior varsity games last year before doing a few varsity games. This season, he’s worked varsity games almost every weeknight.

He’s found it to be a delightful transition.

“Probably the biggest difference in perspective is you don’t care who wins or loses,” Richards said. “The rides home are a lot easier after a game, because win or lose in coaching you’re always thinking about the next game or the next practice, what area do you need to talk about with the team, things like that. With officiating you get in your car and it’s a nice easy ride home. Your head isn’t pounding, and you don’t need to take four Advil like when you’re coaching.

“You just want to go in and do the best job you can, because you know how hard the kids and coaches are working. It’s not an easy job, but it’s been enjoyable.”

In his time as a coach, Richards admitted he had arguments with officials, but they haven’t carried over. Instead the referee community has welcomed him with open arms.

“There probably isn’t an official out there that I didn’t give a hard time to when I was coaching, but every official that I’ve come across this year has been there to help me,” Richards said. “Even guys I butted heads with when I coached could not have been more accommodating. That’s been eye-opening, because there’s probably a few of them that shouldn’t have been as nice to me as they were. They kind of laugh and joke about it and I do too.

”I think they understand the type of person I was as a coach is not the type of person I am outside of coaching. I certainly wouldn’t have learned as much as I’ve learned if the officials haven’t been willing to help me out.”

One official Richards used to have disagreements with is long-time friend and 33-year officiating veteran Rudy Seneca.

Seneca joked about some of the interactions he had with Richards the coach, but also said he was misunderstood sometimes when he was coaching.

“I remember giving him a technical foul in a summer league game during his first stint at Plum,” Seneca said. “We argued back and forth on the court, and then the next day we were golfing and laughing about it.

“To me, he wasn’t overly unfair to officials when he was coaching; it’s just that he always had to have the last word, because he’s smart and quick-witted. If you responded to him, he’d have a response back for you. From that standpoint that made it tough on referees when he coached, but in all fairness he got a target on his back, because he was loud and big in stature.”

Richards and Seneca worked the Leechburg-Riverview game together during the Apollo-Ridge Christmas tournament. Seneca had a sense Richards would take to officiating and was impressed with how quickly he’s developed.

“He always is asking if there’s anything he can do better or if there’s anything he needs to work on,” Seneca said. “There isn’t a high school basketball game right now that I wouldn’t feel comfortable officiating with Ron Richards, because to me he’s a student of officiating like he was a student of coaching.”

Along with Seneca, Richards credited Westmoreland County official’s chapter rules interpreter Mike Gaffney with helping him with his mechanics and gaining an appreciation to the amount of work that goes into becoming an official.

Gaffney worked a game with Richards at Apollo-Ridge. He found it to be a unique experience and echoed Seneca’s sentiments about Richards’ willingness to learn.

“It was different for me, because I don’t think I’ve ever worked a varsity game with a retired coach before,” Gaffney said. “I was very impressed with his knowledge of the game. He picked up the rotation very well. In a three-person crew you have to rotate, and he knew where to go every time. I was very impressed with how he did and how he is doing overall.”

Richards has found that his former coaching colleagues like Hempfield coach Bill Swan have been curious to how he’s felt about officials, and some aren’t convinced he’s done coaching. But Richards has no plans to coach again.

Swan and Richards went through plenty of head-to-head battles over the years and also did a lot of summer league camps together. Swan has been friends with Richards for more than 20 years and misses being able to coach against him, but is happy he’s still involved with the game.

Richards hasn’t done any Class 6A games, due to being only two years removed from coaching there, but worked some Hempfield summer league games. Swan got a chuckle out of seeing him wearing the stripes.

“It is pretty comical,” Swan said. “I mean it’d be like me officiating or Tim McConnell officiating. You know the guys that yell at the officials every game. I know as coaches we love it. Ronnie’s going to be a great official.”

Richards said he has always been a year-to-year guy, but he plans on being an official for a while. He joked that if they don’t start throwing him out of every gym, he plans on continuing to be involved.

“Whether you’re coaching or officiating, I’d like to think everyone is in it for the same reason, because they have a passion for the sport and you want to help out kids,” Richards said. “As long as those things are still there, I’ll still do it. The moment that I don’t have that passion, I’ll be done, because I’m certainly at a point in my life where I’m not going to do something if I’m not enjoying it.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Plum