BATON ROUGE, La. — The Southern Board of Supervisors voted Friday to rename the field at A.W. Mumford Stadium after former football coach Pete Richardson, according to our partners at The Advocate.
Pete Richardson, the university's second-winningest coach (134-62) after Mumford (180-60-13), is said to have revived the tradition of Jaguar football.
The article states that Richardson coached the Jaguars from 1993 to 2009 and holds four Black College National Championships, five Southwestern Athletic Conference titles, is a five-time SWAC coach of the year and has won multiple national Coach of the Year honors.
“He’s one of our most celebrated legends,” Southern athletic director Roman Banks said. “He was the one to awaken Jaguar Nation and lead us to national championships. Coach Mumford set the standard for football here and Pete Richardson re-birthed that standard. It’s only fitting for those two power personalities — they were similar in personality — to take their rightful place together.”
Richardson, a former defensive back for the Buffalo Bills from 1969-1971, began coaching at Southern after four seasons at Winston-Salem State, immediately winning a conference championship and national title in 1993 also winning in 1995, 1997 and 2003, said The Advocate.
According to the article, the recommendation from Southern athletics director Roman Banks came a year ago but due to COVID-19, the action was delayed.
A ceremony to officially dedicate the field will be held September 11 at Southern's first home game against Miles College for the annual Pete Richardson Classic, where he will also start his first full season as a color analyst on the Jaguar radio broadcast.
