Southeast Missouri Athletics Hall of Fame
1982-2014
Lana Richmond coached the SEMO softball program for 32 years, compiling an 884-710-4 record from 1982 to 2014. Her teams won five Ohio Valley Conference regular-season titles (1995-1999), five OVC Tournament titles and made five NCAA Tournament appearances. The program had only two scholarships when she took over but, nine years later, the 1991 team made the school's first-ever NCAA semifinal. Four of the national tournament berths came while Southeast Missouri played in NCAA Division II. In three decades, the OVC's winningest coach oversaw nine All-Americans, 37 first-team all-conference selections, four OVC Player of the Year honorees, three OVC Pitcher of the Year winners and one OVC Freshman of the Year. In the program's first 10 years in D-II in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, the team made NCAA Tournament appearances in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1991. The 1986 team finished with a school-record 40 wins, and Richmond was the D-II Regional Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1991. Her program had 30 or more wins in 10 of its Division I seasons. Richmond became the 42nd softball coach in NCAA history to reach 800 career wins, doing so in 2010. Her 600th D-I victory came in 2013. Richmond's teams also were consistently recognized in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association academic rankings, with her team ranked in the Top 10 for six consecutive years and the 2002 team recognized with the nation's second-highest GPA. Richmond also accumulated a 203-91 record in seven seasons (1982-88) as SEMO's head volleyball coach and also worked as Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator during her career.
