Temple coach Diane Richardson is not from Philadelphia. She spent much of her life in the Maryland and Washington region, which included five coaching stints in the area. <\/p>\n
When Richardson was hired at Temple in 2022, she got a taste of what the Big 5 \u2014 and sports in general \u2014 meant to the city. But seeing how Philly responded to the women\u2019s side of the Big 5 intrigued Richardson. It made her want to grow women\u2019s basketball even more.<\/p>\n
Richardson has since become an advocate for professional women\u2019s basketball and hopes to bring more eyes to the game, with a WNBA franchise set to come to Philadelphia in 2030. In the meantime, Unrivaled will make its first trip out of Miami and play at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cIt really sets the tone for what Philly has to come,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cThe WNBA is coming here in a few years and to have Unrivaled come here, the first place that they have come to, it really shows the support that\u2019s here for women\u2019s basketball and how Philly\u2019s grabbing ahold of it. So I\u2019m excited about it. I\u2019m really excited about the representation. I\u2019m excited for the young girls in Philly to be able to see that up close and personal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00bb READ MORE: Philly is Unrivaled women\u2019s basketball doubleheader at Xfinity Mobile Arena is sold out<\/a><\/p>\n Basketball was not always Richardson\u2019s calling card. She was a highly successful businesswoman in the late \u201990s, even being named one of the top female executives in the country in 1995. However, she left her post as founder and chief operating officer of American Security Corporation to pursue a different passion, mentoring young girls through basketball. <\/p>\n Part of Richardson\u2019s inspiration to make that change came from former college basketball coach and current color commentator Carolyn Peck. Richardson crossed paths with Peck during a recruiting visit with a player while Peck was at the University of Florida and Richardson was coaching at Riverdale Baptist School in Upper Marlboro, Md. She was enamored by Peck\u2019s drive to help young athletes. <\/p>\n \u201cI saw the care she had with her student-athletes and how she wanted to project women\u2019s sports,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cShe had recently won the national championship and I just saw what she put into it. I was just amazed and inspired that when you can be in a position like that, you can actually inspire other people. I left corporate America to coach because I saw her example. And I love what I\u2019m doing now.\u201d <\/p>\n Richardson arrived on North Broad Street before the 2022 season and quickly got to work, not just with her new program, but with women\u2019s basketball as a whole. <\/p>\n Richardson bought into the Big 5 Classic, and when the format changed before the 2024-25 season, she was all for it. The first two years has seen the tripleheader held at Villanova<\/a>\u2019s Finneran Pavilion. While Richardson believes the first two years have been successful, there is more to be done. <\/p>\n \u201cI think we could use some more exposure,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing at Villanova and the guys are playing downtown [at Xfinity Mobile Arena]. And I think if we put enough money into it, enough marketing into it, and we can market it locally and get a lot of people there.\u201d<\/p>\n Richardson also has her team engage with the community in women\u2019s basketball events. The Owls held a camp with Skilladelphia<\/a>, a basketball clinic for young girls, and attended a WNBA watch party with Watch Party PHL to see a game that featured Jonquel Jones, Natasha Cloud, and Kahleah Copper. <\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: Mayor Cherelle Parker among those celebrating Unrivaled\u2019s tour stop in Philly: \u2018This is history in motion\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n A key part of Richardson\u2019s involvement over her four years at Temple has been the involvement of Jones and Copper. Jones, who plays for the New York Liberty, is Richardson\u2019s adopted daughter and makes the trip to Philly whenever she can. <\/p>\n