Richmond hopes to reenergize Murray football
As a real estate broker, Mike Richmond knows all about investments. He hopes his latest investment pays off in a big way for the Murray community.
Richmond, 42, was announced as the Spartans’ new head football coach on Dec. 20 despite having no high school coaching experience. Still, Richmond has been around the game for most of his life, including playing quarterback at the University of Utah and enjoying plenty of success as a youth football coach for Murray teams in the local Ute Conference.
“It’s a great opportunity to get kids reenergized about the program again and make a positive impact in their lives,” an optimistic-sounding Richmond said. “We’re trying to get these kids to find a passion and love for football again and get energetic about the game. Murray is a tight-knit community with a lot to offer, and we want to make football exciting again on Friday nights.”
Ambitious as he might seem, Richmond and his staff have their work cut out. The Spartans have gone 8-39 over the last five seasons, haven’t had a winning season since 2004 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2006, when they lost to Box Elder 40-9 in the first round.
Things went awry last season, when Murray lost its final nine games and coach Dan Aragon abruptly resigned in midseason amid growing dissent among players, parents and the community.
Richmond prefers to look ahead to the future rather than reflect on the past.
“You can’t judge the success of a program on wins and losses,” Richmond said. “We’re hoping to provide a positive experience for the kids. There are a lot of life lessons learned through a team sport like football. We’re looking to change the attitude around the program here.”
Richmond is particularly interested in keeping Murray-bound athletes at the school rather than seeing them opt for higher profile programs like Cottonwood and Skyline. There are also a number of Murray students who played football as youths but chose to play other sports in high school.
“We’re trying to get kids excited about staying in Murray,” Richmond said. “Murray is not a big school, and we do have a lot of athletes who play multiple sports, so I’ll be working with the other coaches. We’ve got a good, solid nucleus coming back and some real good kids coming in.”
Given his college playing experience, Richmond should make an immediate impact on the Spartan offense, which averaged just nine points per game last year. Murray plans to operate out of multiple sets and spread things around instead of being too predictable, he said. Defensively, Richmond plans to hand over duties to his defensive coordinator, who has yet to be hired.
Richmond starred at Reedley High in California, where he set many school passing records that still stand today. There, he caught the eye of then-Utah coach Jim Fassel, who recruited him. Richmond played at Utah from 1988-91, earning the starting position as a junior. Fassel moved on after the 1989 season and led the New York Giants to Super Bowl XXXV in 2001.
“I’ve made some strong connections at the college level and I’m hoping I can share a lot of those perspectives here,” said Richmond, who stays in contact with Fassel.
Richmond also has experience coaching Babe Ruth baseball and Junior Jazz basketball. His Bantam (eighth-graders) football team in Murray went undefeated at 12-0 and won the championship for its region this year. Those players will be freshmen at Murray this fall.
In preparation for next season, the Spartans will beef up their winter and summer conditioning programs and attempt to gain more community involvement. Richmond hopes to fill out his coaching staff soon, which might include those he worked with at the collegiate level.
Richmond has two children enrolled in the Murray School District and a daughter who graduated from Murray High last year. He plans to continue as a commercial real estate broker for Commerce Real Estate Solutions while coaching the Spartans.
