PLAYING AND COACHING CAREER
Deanna Richard played at Oakland from 1992-96. One of the most prolific three-point shooters in Oakland women’s basketball history, Richard was one of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s (GLIAC) best players during her time at Oakland.
As a senior, she became Oakland’s eighth National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-American in women’s basketball and was named GLIAC Player of the Year. She led her team to three straight NCAA appearances, a Great Lakes Regional Championship, and a trip to the Elite Eight in 1994-95. During her senior year, Richard ranked fourth in the nation in three-point field-goals and finished her career with 1,333 career points, good for 18th on the program’s all-time list.
After graduating from Oakland with a degree in Exercise Science, Richard played one year of professional basketball in Portugal for Clube Desportivo de Povoa. She helped her team to a conference championship and a trip to the Final Four, averaging 27.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game, while shooting 58.2 percent from the floor.
Richard’s first coaching position was with the Ferris State Bulldogs as an assistant for the 1998-99 campaign. From there, she stayed in the GLIAC, as she became an assistant for the Wayne State Warriors from 1999-2001 and earned her Master’s in Business Administration.
Following her two-year stay at Wayne State, Richard became a head coach for the first time in 2001-02, taking over the Division III Olivet Comets in the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) and is second on the program’s all-time wins list with 61.
During her six-year stint at Olivet, Richard was also an Assistant Professor of Health in the Physical Education and Recreation department and an HPERS Faculty Senator for her final three years.
Moving back up to the Division II ranks, Richard assumed the reins of the Erie, Pennsylvania-based Mercyhurst Lakers in 2007-08.
Overseeing the program’s transition to the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in 2008-09, she spent 12 seasons with the Lakers, leading them to four conference tournament appearances.
The 2016-17 season was one for the record books for Mercyhurst, as Richard led the team to a 24-8 overall record and secured the program's first NCAA Tournament berth since 1994-95. The Lakers were the five-seed in the Atlantic Regional and defeated four-seed Shippensburg in the Round of 64 before falling to one-seed California (PA) in the Round of 32.
She also achieved a couple of personal milestones that season by earning her 100th win as Mercyhurst's head coach and receiving the Erie Times News Sportswoman of the Year Award.
Richard was inducted into Oakland University’s Lepley Hall of Honor on April 21, 2007, and returned to her alma mater in 2022, bringing 21 years of collegiate coaching experience with her.
PERSONAL
Richard is married to Amy Achesinski and the couple reside in Bloomfield Hills.
