Richardson began his coaching career in the late 1970s at the high school football ranks in Dayton, Ohio, before moving up to NCAA Division II football in 1979 as he joined the coaching staff at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In 1988, Richardson became the head coach of the Winston-Salem State Rams, succeeding Bill Hayes, who left to become the head football coach at North Carolina A&T State University.
[1] Richardson served as head coach from 1988 to 1992, compiling a win–loss record of 41–14–1, winning three Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championships—in 1988, 1990, 1991—and leading the Rams to two appearances in the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs, in 1990 and 1991.
Richardson left the Winston-Salem State in 1993 to become head football coach at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He is the only coach in the history of the Jaguars football program to have an undefeated record against College Football Hall of Fame coach Eddie Robinson of the rival Grambling State Tigers in the Bayou Classic.