Towson University Athletics Director Tim Leonard has announced that women's basketball head coach Diane Richardson, who led the program to its first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) title this year, has signed an extension to stay with the Tigers through the 2023-24 season.
 
This is a three-year extension added on to the original four-year contract signed when Richardson was hired in June 2017.
 
"I absolutely love being here," Richardson said. "This extension tells me they like me being here, too. Getting the extension is going to be so important for recruiting. It gives the players and their parents a vote of confidence, knowing I will be around to see them graduate. People are noticing Towson. We feel good about the players we have coming in and we are not done yet."
 
"In only two seasons, Diane Richardson has lifted Towson basketball to the upper echelon of the Colonial Athletic Conference," Leonard said. "It was a lot of fun to see our women's basketball team get to the NCAA Tournament. It was something that was never done in school history, so for Diane to get there in just her second season was certainly huge. We are thrilled at the progress that has been made and ecstatic that Diane will be leading our program into the future."
 
In her second year at the helm, Richardson led her team to program firsts and accomplishments unseen in several years. The marks her team recorded led to her being named the CAA and Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Coach of the Year.
 
Richardson coached the Tigers to the first women's basketball conference title since the 1983-84 season, the program's first CAA Championship. Junior Nukiya Mayo was named the CAA Championship Most Outstanding Player after leading the team with 20 points in the title game.  Redshirt-sophomore Kionna Jeter joined her on the CAA All-Tournament team.
 
This led to Towson's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.  The Tigers played two-seeded UConn as the 15-seed on an ESPN2 primetime slot in the NCAA First Round.
 
Richardson's 2018-19 season saw the team's first winning record since the 2011-12 year, the most wins since 2008-09 and the most CAA victories since 2007-08. Towson reached first place in the conference for the first time in program history after defeating the College of Charleston in January. The Tigers finished third in the league, the highest since joining the CAA, which led to a four-seed in the conference tournament, also the highest since coming to the organization.
 
Towson was voted to finish eighth in the preseason coaches poll and completed the seventh-best turnaround in the nation after winning 17 games in the regular season; the 2017-18 season saw just nine wins. The Tigers earned 20 total victories in the 2018-19 year, including wins over three Atlantic-10 opponents, plus saw over a 41% increase in average attendance in home games at SECU Arena from the previous year.
 
Richardson's efforts coaching the Tigers were not just noticed on the court. The culture she has established with her team resulted in Towson being the Division I women's basketball team with the most community service hours performed in the 2018-19 school year with NCAA Team Works Helper Helper.
 
These are just a handful of the accomplishments Richardson has led her team to, along with three of her players receiving All-CAA honors. Jeter finished the year on the All-CAA First Team, CAA All-Defensive Team and an All-ECAC Honorable Mention, while Mayo joined her on the All-Defensive Team and collected All-CAA Second Team honors. Point guard Q. Murray set the single season assist record and Jeter scored the second-most points by a player in a season.