Kareem Richardson officially hired as NC State basketball assistant
NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts has completed his new staff, officially announcing the hire of Clemson assistant Kareem Richardson.
Richardson was one of the names listed on the assistant coach hot board provided by The Wolfpacker, along with Levi Watkins, who has also been hired by Keatts. Watkins is a NC State alum who previously was working as an assistant at Ole Miss.
The two will replace Mike Summey and Roy Roberson after Keatts shook up his staff following the 2021-22 season.
Richardson is a coach that fits both the category of having former head coaching experience plus a working background with Keatts, the latter a common theme among most of Keatts’ hires during his tenure as the NC State basketball coach.
Richardson is also a name that has come up in the past when associated with prior openings on Keatts’ staff at NC State.
“I’m excited to welcome Kareem to Raleigh,” Keatts said in the prepared statement announcing Richardson’s hire. “I go way back with Kareem and have always had a tremendous amount of respect for his ability to teach the game of basketball and relate to the young men in his program. He’s a terrific coach who also has six years experience as a head coach. He will be an incredible asset for our staff and players and we’re lucky to have him here.”
Keatts and Richardson worked together as assistant coaches at Louisville in 2012-13, when the Cardinals won the national title. Richardson was then hired as the head coach at UMKC, where he went 75-118 over six years. Keatts and Richardson scheduled a game against each other in Keatts’ first year with NC State in 2017, which the Pack won in Reynolds Coliseum, 88-69.
This past year, Richardson was an assistant at Clemson, his lone season on Tigers’ head coach Brad Brownell’s bench. The prior two seasons before that, he served as an assistant at Indiana State. He has also had prior stints at Wright State, Drake and Xavier.
Richardson started his collegiate playing career at East Carolina before transferring to Evansville.
The news is the latest in a series of offseason developments for NC State. Keatts has added two additions from the transfer portal this week, La Salle forwardJack Clark was first to announce he was transferring into the program. Then Ole Miss guard and leading scorer Jarkel Joiner made his commitment on Wednesday morning.
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