Richard Alexander Glas (born April 30, 1948) is an American basketball coach who was most recently the head men's basketball coach at Concordia College in

Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead () is a city in and county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moorhead is also home to several ...

. In a coaching career that spanned 1970 to 2017, Glas had various assistant and head coaching positions in college basketball and was head coach at Minnesota Morris from 1974 to 1979, Willamette from 1979 to 1984,

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

from 1988 to 2006, and Concordia from 2008 to 2017.

Early life and education

Born in

Bemidji, Minnesota Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, Minnesota, Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city ...

, Glas attended

Bemidji State University Bemidji State University (BSU) is a public university in Bemidji, Minnesota. Founded as a preparatory institution for teachers in 1919, it provides higher education to north-central Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Univ ...

, where he played basketball for the

Bemidji State Beavers The Bemidji State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Bemidji State University, located in Bemidji, Minnesota, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Beavers compete as members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for ...

from 1966 to 1970. Glas graduated from Bemidji State with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1970 and completed a master's degree in education at

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. History Western Illin ...

in 1971.

Coaching career

Early coaching career (1970–1974)

Glas had his first coaching job during the 1970–71 season as an assistant at

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of 90° Longitude West) tha ...

. From 1971 to 1974, Glas was an assistant coach at Minnesota Morris under Jack Haddorff.

Minnesota Morris (1974–1979)

Following the retirement of Haddorff, Glas was promoted to head coach at Minnesota Morris in 1974. Glas had 27 wins in his first two seasons before a 21–6 season in 1976–77 with a

Northern Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

(NIC) title. Upon moving from the NAIA to

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

in 1977–78, Minnesota Morris went 22–6 with another NIC title and an appearance in the NCAA tournament. The NCC honored Glas with Coach of the Year honors in 1977 and 1978.

Willamette (1979–1984)

Glas's next coaching stop was on the West Coast. From 1979 to 1984, Glas was head coach at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

in Salem, Oregon. He was not as successful there, going 66–64 in five seasons with only one winning season in 1982–83 at 19–8.

Hawaii and Arizona assistant (1984–1988)

After Willamette, Glas remained on the West Coast and got his first

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 ...

job as an assistant coach at

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

in the 1984–85 season under

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head c ...

. Arizona went 21–10 that season. With a recommendation from Olson, Glas was hired to an open assistant coaching position at

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

under new head coach Frank Arnold in 1985. Arnold left Hawaii after two seasons and an 11–45 record. Glas was retained by new head coach

Riley Wallace Robert Riley Wallace (born October 25, 1941) is an American retired basketball coach. He spent most of his career coaching college basketball, and was the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors men's team from 1987 through 2007. Early life ...

for the 1987–88 season, during which Hawaii went 4–25.

North Dakota (1988–2006)

From 1988 to 2006, Glas was head coach at

. In his first season, North Dakota finished last in the

North Central Conference The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II. History The NC ...

(NCC), but the next season, the 1989–90 team won the NCC regular season title and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II tournament. That team was the first of six consecutive seasons with NCC regular season or tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1990 and 1991, Glas was the

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, head men's basketball coach at the University ...

Division II Coach of the Year for the North Central Region. North Dakota also appeared in the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

NCAA Tournaments. After 18 seasons, Glas ended his career at North Dakota with a 335–194 record, eight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, and the most wins in school history (335).

Northern Iowa assistant (2006–2008)

On April 26, 2006, Glas resigned from North Dakota to accept a job offer at

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois ...

to be associate head coach under

Ben Jacobson Ben Scott Jacobson (born December 16, 1970) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Northern Iowa, a position he has held since 2006. He served as an assistant at North Dakota, North Dakota ...

. The 2006–07 Northern Iowa team had an 18–13 record. The following season, Glas was reassigned to director of basketball operations. The 2007–08 Northern Iowa team went 18–14.

Concordia (2008–2017)

Glas concluded his coaching career at Concordia College, a Division III college in

. In nine seasons from 2008 to 2017, he had a 118–111 record. His best team was in 2012–13 with an 18–8 record and second-place finish in the

Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) is a college athletic conference which competes in NCAA Division III. All 13 of the member schools are located in Minnesota and are private institutions, with only two being non-sectarian. ...

standings. On December 19, 2016, Glas announced his retirement effective at the end of the season.

Personal life

Glas is married with two children. He and his wife have lived in Nevis, Minnesota since 2017.

Head coaching record

Sources:

References