Aaron Roussell is the head-coach of the University of Richmond's women's basketball team, and a proud resident of Tarrington. 

 

Throughout Roussell's life he has always had a profound love of sports, but at a young age he never saw it as a potential career opportunity. That belief would quickly be made untrue. While attending the University of Iowa, Roussell was planning to study law in hopes of becoming a full-time lawyer, but he began to doubt what his passion in life truly was. He decided to take a year off from his studies and was offered a head coaching spot for a boys high-school basketball team. From doing that, he gained connections with some college coaches on the women’s basketball side. These connections helped him land a spot as a graduate assistant coach for the University of Minnesota. 

 

Following his tenure at Minnesota, he continued contemplating his future career path. Before the next basketball season, he landed a job to be an assistant coach at the University of Chicago. Not long after starting that job, the head coach of the University of Chicago decided to leave for a different coaching job at a different college. That decision would quickly change the path of Coach Roussell’s future.   Due to the head coach leaving, there became an open spot for interim head coach. Coach Roussell stepped up and at just age 25, was the head-coach of a college basketball team. Despite it being his first time as the head coach of a college team, the team had an incredible year, culminating with the coach being named the full-time head coach. He would coach there for seven more years, until he was hired as the head coach of Bucknell University. He held an eight-year tenure at Bucknell, before he was hired for his current position as Head Coach of the University of Richmond (2019-present). 

 

At the time of this writing, the Spiders have a 17-3 record and are 7-0 in conference play, which makes them first in their conference. This is also the best start to an A-10 conference season by one team EVER. 

 

On March 24, the NCAA women's March Madness tournament will begin. “The goal for every team is to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament. For a mid-major school like ours it is very difficult and usually requires winning the year-end conference tournament,” said Coach Roussell. “I really like our team, especially if we can stay healthy, but there are so many quality teams in the A-10 this year so it will be a big challenge.”  This year the A-10 Championship Tournament is at the new Henrico Event and Sports Center. 

  

Throughout Roussell’s time coaching, his teams have made six March Madness tournaments. In 2011, his team made it to the Elite-8, one short of the Division III Final Four. In 2019, while still coaching Bucknell, they missed a buzzer-beating three-pointer in round one, that would have led to an upset over #5 Florida State in round one of the NCAA Tournament. “Those are probably my two favorite March Madness experiences,” said Coach Roussell. “Any time you even get a chance to participate in the tournament it is an unbelievable thrill.”

 

 

The Spiders typically host three weeks of basketball camps during the summer, and are constantly building a strong reputation for helping around the campus and helping the community. “I am especially excited about our team recently ‘adopting’ Mallory, a 9-year old Richmond resident, who is battling a severe form of epilepsy. She has signed on as our newest recruit and has been a real boost to our team!”

 

 

Coach Roussell resides in Tarrington with his wife, Molly, and children Riley, Kelsey, and Kendall.  He is a member of Salisbury Presbyterian, where Molly is an elder. She is also on the PTA Board at Robious Elementary and is one of the key leaders and founders of the Tarrington Mom’s Club.  Coach Roussell reports, “I am obviously very proud of her and what she is doing”. 

Coach Roussell is a role-model for up-and-coming coaches that are just one opportunity away from thriving.   We look forward to seeing your team play and wish you the best of luck this spring! Go Spiders!