A return to Ohio State wasn’t necessarily something Dave Richardson was looking to make.
For more than a decade, Richardson oversaw the strength and conditioning program for the men’s basketball team under coach Thad Matta. More recently, Richardson had been fulfilling that role at Arkansas since 2018, where he’d helped the Razorbacks reach at least the Sweet 16 in five of the past six seasons.
Richardson was happy there. Then Buckeyes coach Jake Diebler called him, seeking some insight into making a hire to replace outgoing strength and conditioning coach Quadrian Banks, and the two longtime acquaintances and friends started talking.
“Jake called me, and I told him that I wasn’t interested in coming back, but, you know, I was going try to help him find someone,” Richardson said. “And the more I talked to him about it, I kind of got fired up, to be honest with you. I mean, I had a really good thing going in Arkansas … but man, just talking to coach Diebler, his energy is infectious, and his vision is just something that you kind of want to be a part of, you know?”
The result is a homecoming of sorts for the veteran strength coach, whose first Ohio State tenure began in 2005 when Matta hired him as associate strength and conditioning coach after he had spent the previous four years at the University of Miami as an assistant strength trainer. For the next 12 seasons, he held that role until Matta was fired after the 2016-17 season. When new coach Chris Holtmann assembled his staff, he did not retain Richardson, who remained at the university as the men’s lacrosse strength and conditioning coach for one year before being hired as the Arkansas men’s basketball head strength and conditioning coach prior to the 2018-19 season.
With the Razorbacks, Richardson worked under coaches Mike Anderson (2018-19), Eric Musselman (2019-24) and John Calipari (2024-26) before returning to the Buckeyes.
During his time at Ohio State, Richardson was on staff while Diebler was part of Matta’s support staff as the program’s video coordinator from 2013-16. He also overlapped with assistant coach Dave Dickerson, who was on Matta’s staff from 2010-17 and hired by Diebler when he was named head coach in 2024.
“Woody Hayes said, ‘You win with people,’ ” Richardson said. “I’ve thought about that ever since I’ve been (at Ohio State). You’re part of different athletic departments in different places, but it really all comes down to the people. I mean, the reason I came back is because of Jake Diebler and Dave Dickerson.”
A graduate of Louisiana-Monroe, Richardson earned a bachelor’s degree in health and human performance in 1989 and a Master’s degree in exercise science in 1990. He spent five years in the United States Army and was a member of the All-Army powerlifting team. He has also previously spent five years as the head strength and conditioning coach at Nicholls State and six years in the same position at his alma mater.
During the summer of 2020, Richardson obtained Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach Emeritus (RSCC*E) designation by the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the NSCA’s highest designation that signifies that “a certified coach has demonstrated experience and knowledge in their field.”
Asked where he’s grown since his prior time at Ohio State, Richardson said, “The main difference is the explosion of technology. The resources that are here (at Ohio State) are way different than the resources I had in Arkansas. We got the very most out of the resources that we were able to have, but this place is on another level.”
Still, the man his former players affectionally refer to as “Coach Rich” said a few things about him have not changed across the years.
“At the end of the day, I’m still an old-time strength coach with programs that value strength and toughness,” he said. “That’s part of the thing that I want to be able to bring out (of players).”
Ohio State men’s basketball beat writer Adam Jardy can be reached at ajardy@dispatch.com, on Bluesky at @cdadamjardy.bsky.social or on Twitter at @AdamJardy.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Talks with Jake Diebler got Dave Richardson ‘fired up’ about Ohio State