Matt Richards had a frequently-used phrase aimed to ground players in Southern Maine Community College’s men’s basketball program when the Seawolves won the USCAA Division II national championship in 2022, just a season after the COVID-19 pandemic halted athletics at the institution.

“Be where your feet are.”

Now it rings true for Richards, who has taken his own advice and is moving on from his post as head coach at SMCC. 

Richards, whose coaching tenure spanned 23 years, also spent time as SMCC’s athletic director.  A year and a half ago, he dropped the athletic director role and became the chief of institutional advancement, a role he has now moved to exclusively.  

“Because I have so much passion for (the program) and the relationships with the families and the alumni, one of the things that I wanted to make sure that I did whenever I decided to step down was make sure I left it better than I received it,” said Richards. “And so, I was taking on this new job, and it just kind of felt right. It felt like this was the time that I could hand off the program. It was in great shape, just coming off a nice, successful run, and we had a good recruiting class coming in.”

The Seawolves won the Yankee Small College Conference championship this past season and qualified for the USCAA Division II championship. The Seawolves were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Miami-Hamilton but won a consolation game against Penn State Mont Alto. 

Before conference championships and tournament appearances were considered standard at SMCC, Richards was tasked with rebuilding the program. 

“It had some success back in the late ’80s and mid-’90s, and it had kind of fallen off a bit,” Richards said. “And when I got hired in 2003, it was kind of almost a redo. And so I’m really, really proud of what we were able to create here. And I use the word ‘we’ because it wasn’t just me. It was the players, it was the assistant coaches, it was administration that believed in me here at the college and let me really develop this program.”

Succeeding Richards will be one of his former players, Ian Regan, who graduated from SMCC in 2022. 

After helping SMCC win the USCAA national title — Regan became an assistant coach on Richards’ staff.

“To be in this spot is an honor,” said Regan, an Old Orchard Beach High graduate. “It’s a privilege to be able to coach at the college level, and I’m excited for the opportunity and can’t wait to continue what (Richards) has built the last 23 years.”

Regan spent a lot of time last season breaking down film, preparing for opponents, practice planning and working on player development, skills that will aid him in this new venture. 

He’s been able to learn from and observe Richards, who he said took him under his wing. 

“(Richards) means the absolute world to me,” Regan said. “I mean, he is the best coach I’ve ever had in my playing career. As a mentor, he’s done so many good things for me, not only as a basketball player, but just in life. And through the relationship, obviously with playing under him and now coaching with him, I mean, I call him my family.”

For Richards, it was important that the culture he created within the program remain intact when he decided to leave his post. 

Regan is on the same page, and a priority for him will be preserving the family-oriented and alumni-driven culture he helped create as a player and team captain. He’ll have the support of one of his former teammates, assistant coach Zachary Mickle. 

“I’m honored that I can be the guy that knows that culture and that standard,” Regan said. “And  that culture will continue, and I hope all the alumni and all the players that have played for him know that I’ll continue to have that culture and keep going with the principles and along those lines that (Richards) has.” 

Come November, Richards will have a new vantage point, but one thing won’t change — he’ll still be doing everything he can to support the Seawolves. 

“I’m not going to be on the sidelines on game day, but I think I’m going to be the program’s biggest supporter … I’ll do everything that I can to make sure that (Regan) is successful and continues that,” Richards said.