Richard Allen Parfitt (May 13, 1931 – September 6, 2021) was an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach. He was head coach for

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

(CMU) from 1971 to 1985, during which time he led their move from the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stud ...

(NAIA) to

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

. Parfitt was born in

Gratiot County, Michigan Gratiot County ( ') is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 41,761. The county seat is Ithaca, although its most populous city is Alma. Gratiot County comprises the Alma, MI Micropolitan Statistic ...

and attended Central Michigan College, where he played basketball and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

for the Chippewas. Following his graduation in 1953, he became a teacher and high school basketball coach in

Laingsburg, Michigan Laingsburg is a city in Shiawassee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,283 at the 2010 census. Laingsburg is located about northeast of the city of Lansing. It is mostly surrounded by Sciota Township with a small wester ...

, starting a prep coaching career that would last until 1962 when he returned to his alma mater as an assistant basketball and baseball coach. In 1971 he was named head coach upon the resignation of Ted Kjolhede. Parfitt served as

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan corr ...

's head coach as the program transitioned from the NAIA to NCAA Division I status, joining the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twe ...

(MAC) in the 1972–73 season. Parfitt quickly built a successful program, winning conference titles and earning the school's first two NCAA tournament appearances in 1975 and 1977. In all, Parfitt served 14 seasons as the Chippewas' head coach, compiling a career record of 192–179. Parfitt died on September 6, 2021, at age 90.

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