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Southern's Richardson Signs as Highest Paid Coach at HBCU

By Kamilah Stroy
Black College Wire

The Pete Richardson era at Southern University will continue for another three seasons. The Jaguars' head football coach has agreed to a three-year contract extension.

Pete Richardson

The new contract pays Richardson $200,000 per year in base salary, with performance incentives of up to $40,000. The extension makes Richardson the highest paid coach in Division I-AA and in the history of historically black colleges and universities.

The Southern University Board of Supervisors approved the contract Jan. 8.

"Overall, I'm pleased with the contract as far as security for my family and with the university. And I'm looking forward to the extension," Richardson said.

After 12 years at Southern, Richardson entered the final season of his contract wanting a new deal. His old contract provided a base salary of $140,000, a housing allowance worth an additional $12,000 and the use of a courtesy car.

The new contract has incentives that could pay $25,000 to $30,000, depending on graduation rates, national Division I-AA rankings, conference standings and how the team does in black college national championships.

Southern denied Richardson's request for a five-year contract extension, offering only a three-year deal.

"I don't think a lot of people would come back if he was to leave; a lot of recruits wouldn't come here, because he changed the program around so much," said Mike Lymon Jr., a junior rehabilitation counseling service major from Donaldsonville, La., and a member of the Jaguar football team.

Richardson's lawyers, Wade Shows and Jim Wayne, began working on a new contract just before the Jaguars' season opener on Labor Day weekend. They rejected the school's initial offer of a package worth $205,000. A clause in that proposal would allow the school to fire Richardson and reassign him within the athletic department for a salary equal to his new position.

"The negotiations were good; they were positive and when we all got together and came up with the decision, he accepted the final offer of the university," said Floyd Kerr, Southern's athletic director.

"I feel good that we got it done in a timely manner so we can preserve recruiting and move the program forward, stabilizing our football program."

Richardson's current contract, a five-year extension put together in 2000, expires at the end of June. It gives him a salary of $152,000 per year, including a housing allowance and up to $35,000 in additional incentives. If Southern had not offered a new contract, Richardson would have continued to work at Southern until June if he did not leave to work elsewhere. He had drawn interest from other schools but declined to say which ones.

"I'm glad they got it worked out, so now I can build for the future," Richardson said.

Richardson's arrival at Southern in 1993 came after five seasons at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina, where his record was 42-14-1 and he won three CIAA titles.

In his first year at Southern, the Jaguars finished 11-1. Richardson has never had a losing season in 17 years as a head coach, with a career record of 147-52-1 and 105-38 at Southern.

In the 12 seasons at Southern, Richardson has captured four black college national titles, five Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and four Heritage Bowl championships.

This past season, Richardson guided the Jaguars to an 8-4 record, winning the SWAC's Western Division before falling 40-35 to Alabama State in the SWAC championship game on Dec. 11.

Only Arnett William "Ace" Mumford, who is enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame, has had a better coaching record at Southern. A.W. Mumford, the namesake for the Jaguars' football stadium, was 176-60-14 from 1936 to 1961.

Kamilah Stroy is a student at Southern University who writes for The Southern Digest.

Posted Jan. 31, 2005