Bio

Richard Westerlund will begin his fourth season at the helm of Northwestern Ohio men's basketball after the program's best two year stretch since the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. The 2025-26 Racers averaged 77.7 points per game putting them second all-time behind only the 2024-25 team while holding opponents to 44.6% shooting, the program's best since 2015-16. The team's first win of the year came in overtime at Goshen College where UNOH tallied 112 points marking the program's most in a game since 2013. On January 3, 2026, UNOH recorded one of the most historic wins in program history defeating Cornerstone 78-68 at Mol Arena in Grand Rapids for the first time ever after going 0-17 in the previous 19 seasons.

In his second year, Westerlund's Racers logged the program's most overall and conference wins since 2016-17 highlighted by a 96-94 upset of 2-seed Lourdes for a place in the WHAC Semifinals for the first time since 2015. The successful year two turnaround was in large part to a lethal offense that averaged 86.2 points per game topping the previous program record by almost ten points (77.5 - 2013-14). UNOH shot 46% from the field as a team, the program's best since 2014-15, knocking down a program record 681 free throw attempts. Westerlund's Racers were also strong on the glass averaging 38.6 rebounds per game, the program's most since 2009-10, averaging a program record 27.4 defensive boards.

Prior to UNOH, Westerlund coached five years at Great Lakes Christian College where he amassed a 101-60 overall record with four NCCAA DII National Tournament appearances. Before heading to GLCC, Westerlund coached two years at Wright State Lake and three years at Crossroads College.

Great Lakes 2018-2019:

In coaching, Coach Westerlund led the Men's Basketball program to the greatest season in school history going 21-12 including the college's first-ever region championship appearance, and first National Tournament appearance. Westerlund was responsible for coaching the two first-team all-region athletes and two NCCAA All American athletes, the college's first since 1980. He also coached one 1000 point scorer in 2018-19. He led the Crusaders to many program firsts including most wins in program history, the best win percentage in school history, the schools highest national ranking (#2), the program was ranked the entire season for first time in program history, first win over #1 ranked team in program history, defeated four scholarship programs in a season. GLCC storybook season ended in NCCAA DII National Championship game on a last-second shot to Grace Christian University in overtime. The Crusaders stormed back from being down 25 points before coming up just short. The National Runner-up is the best finish any Crusader program has had in the history of the school.

Westerlund's team set multiple single-game program records including steals, 3FGM, Points Scored, and Turnovers forced. His team also set multiple program records for SPG, TO forced per game, and 3FGM in single season. His team was top five in 12 different statistical categories in 2018-2019 for the NCCAA including PPG, Opponents PPG, 3FGM, 3FGA, 3FGM per game, FG percentage defense, TO per game, TO forced per game, TO Margin, APG, A:TO Ratio, and SPG. His team was top 10 in six other categories including: FT %, Opponent FT percentage, RPG, oRPG, BPG, and Scoring Defense. Westerlund saw his team improve in every statistical category except two categories from the previous season. In addition, the Crusaders excelled off the court improving the team GPA by over .5 points and having 6 student-athletes achieve at least a 3.0 GPA. The Men's Basketball team was also active in the community as Westerlund spearheaded the effort in creating relationships with area schools for the student-athletes to tutor and mentor kids at the area schools. The Men's Basketball has completed over 400 hours of community service in 2018-2019.

Great Lakes 2019-2020:

Year two, Coach Westerlund led the Men's Basketball program to another strong season with the first back to back winning seasons in program history going 19-11 including the college's second consecutive region championship appearance, and second National Tournament appearance. Unfortunately the Crusaders never had a chance to play for the national title as the tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19. Westerlund was responsible for coaching the two first-team all-region athletes and two NCCAA All American athletes including the first 1st Team All American since 1980. He also coached three 1000 point scorers in 2019-2020. He led the Crusaders to many more program records including the first national #1 ranking in school history. He led Crusaders to stay at number 1 in the country for longer than any other team that season. 

Westerlund's team tied and set multiple single-game program records including steals, 3FGM, Points Scored, and Turnovers forced. His team also broke multiple program records for SPG, and TO forced per game. His team was top five in 14 different statistical categories in 2019-2020 for the NCCAA including PPG, Scoring Margin, 3FGM, 3FGA, 3FGM per game, 3FG percentage, 3FG percentage defense, TO per game, TO forced per game, TO Margin, APG, A:TO Ratio, BPG and SPG. His team was top 10 in three other categories including: FG %, FT %, and oRPG. Westerlund saw his team improve in every statistical category except two categories from the previous season. In addition, the Crusaders continued to excel off the court and having 4 student-athletes achieve at least a 3.0 GPA. The Men's Basketball team was also active in the community as they continued the effort in creating relationships with area schools for the student-athletes to tutor and mentor kids at the area schools. The Men's Basketball has completed over 600 hours of community service in 2019-2020.

Great Lakes 2020-2021:

In coaching, Coach Westerlund led the program to another strong season despite the many challenges of COVID-19. Coach Westerlund and his team went on the road for 24 straight road games playing against 15 NAIAs including five that qualified for the national tournament. Despite all the circumstances Westerlund led the Crusaders to third straight winning season and third most wins in a season in program history with 16 wins. Westerlund coached two first team All Region Players in Trent Temple and Isiah Reed. Trent Temple was named Co-Player of the Year for Mideast Region the first GLCC athlete to garner the award. Westerlund was responsible for coaching two First Team All Americans in Trent Temple and Isiah Reed, the two First Team All Americans was the first time the NCCAA had two members from the same team on the 1st team since the team moved to just five players in 2015. He coached two more 1000 point scorers this season as well. Crusaders finished ranked #8 in the country in the final poll and 6th in the power rating. He led the Crusaders to their third straight Mideast Championship game appearance.

Westerlund's teams continued to rank high in many statistical categories including top five in eight categories in 2020-2021 for the NCCAA including 3FGM, 3FG% SPG, TO per game, TO force per game, TO margin, A:TO ratio, and scoring margin. His team was also top 10 in sIX other categories including PPG, Scoring Defense, 3FGM per game, 3FG Defense, RPG, and APG. In addition, the Crusaders excelled off the court improving the team GPA by over .5 points and having 5 student-athletes achieve at least a 3.0 GPA. The Men's Basketball team was also active in the community as Westerlund spearheaded the effort in creating relationships with area schools for the student-athletes to tutor and mentor kids at the area schools. Westerlund also eclipsed is 100th career college win during the season while also becoming Great Lakes Christian College's Winngest coach in program history for Men's Basketball program.

Great Lakes 2021-2022:

In coaching, Coach Westerlund led the program to the best season in program history going 26-7 overall, including a program record 13 game win streak. Coach Westerlund and his team were ranked #1 in the Coaches Poll and Power Rating for the entire season, having one of the most dominant seasons in NCCAA DII history. This was Westerlund's fourth straight winning season for Great Lakes. Westerlund coached five All Region Players in Trent Temple, Isiah Reed, and Kylan Shipp being named first team, TQ Belcher was named to second team, and Whitney Harris was named Honorable Mention. Trent Temple was named Player of the Year for Mideast Region for the second straight season, Kylan Shipp was named Newcomer of the Year, and Coach Westerlund was named Mideast Region Coach of the Year for his efforts. Westerlund was responsible for coaching two All Americans in Trent Temple and Isiah Reed. Temple earned National Player of the Year, the first GLCC student-athlete to be named NPOY. Westerlund was also named National Coach of the Year, which is his first time earning that award. He coached three more 1000 point scorers this season as well. Crusaders earned the #1 overall seed for the national tournament, and earned a trip to the Final Four.

Westerlund's teams continued to rank high in many statistical categories including #1 in fourteen categories in 2021-2022 for the NCCAA including PPG, Scoring Margin, FG%, 3FGM, 3FGM per game, 3FG%, TO per game, TO force per game, TO margin, APG, A:TO ratio, oRPG, SPG, and BPG. In addition, the Crusaders excelled off the court improving the team GPA by over .5 points and having 6 student-athletes achieve at least a 3.0 GPA. The Men's Basketball team was also active in the community as Westerlund spearheaded the effort in creating relationships with area schools for the student-athletes to tutor and mentor kids at the area schools while running free basketball clinics.

Great Lakes 2022-23:

Westerlund ended his time at GLCC with a 19-16 record and took his team to their second consecutive Final Four appearance at the NCCAA DII National Tournament. His Crusaders won the program's first Mideast Region Championship finishing #4 in the final Coaches' Poll. He placed three players on the All-Conference list with one All-American.

Wright State Lake:

In Westerlund's first year at Wright State Lake he saw the team GPA improve from first semester to second semester. The Lakers finished top 10 in the USCAA in steals per game, blocks per game, and 3FGM. Westerlund also had two students named to the Dean's List for their efforts in the classroom. Westerlund also planned and directed Wright State Lake Campus athletics first basketball camp for the program. Laker Camp served over 35 young people in the community.

Westerlund's second season at the helm the Lakers made even greater strides both on and off the court. His second year was headlined by strong recruiting class of 19 student-athletes. Off the court, the Men's Basketball team GPA continued to rise including three more student-athletes being named to the Dean's List. Westerlund also established a community service plan for the Men's Basketball program which included the Laker Reading Program in Celina Elementary and Primary Schools as well as volunteering to serve at the C.A.L.L Food Pantry. In all the Lakers completed 500 hours of community service in 2017-2018 school year.

On the court, Westerlund led the Lakers to their most wins (13) in a season since 2008-2009. The Lakers also defeated their first top 10 opponent December 10, 2017 against #8 Warren Wilson College. Over the course of the season Westerlund saw his squad receive votes in the national poll for three weeks. The Lakers went 7-2 in USCAA play including 3-2 against teams in the top 20 polls. The Lakers finished the season #17 in the USCAA Power rankings. Statistically, the Lakers improved in 14 of 22 categories from year one to two. Under Westerlund's watch the Lakers were ranked top 10 in 8 categories: FG attempts per game 76.5 (4th), offensive rebounding per game 16.7 (3rd), defensive rebounding per game 28.8 (9th), total rebounding per game 45.5 (4th), assists per game 16.4 (10th), steals per game 12.4 (3rd), blocks per game 5.2 (2nd), and total points 2,314 (5th).

Crossroads College:

Prior to his time at Wright State Westerlund was at Crossroads College in Rochester, Minnesota, where he was the Head Coach for three seasons. Westerlund had great success and accomplishments at Crossroads. Westerlund was directly responsible for the recruitment of 34 unique student-athletes. Westerlund built up the men's basketball program from only having 3 returners in 2013 to a nationally ranked NCCAA program in 2016. Westerlund led Crossroads to its 4th ever ACCA II National Championship in the schools 103-year history. He had a total of 18 student-athletes on the dean's list under his leadership and coached 5 All-Americans. 

Westerlund left Crossroads College with a career record of 33-37 when not counting financial guarantee games and a record of 28-18 against colleges with 500 students or less. Westerlund led the men's program to the NCCAA region championship game in Crossroads' first year as a full member. Westerlund led the school to its first-ever win over an athletic scholarship school (Lincoln Christian University- NAIA) in 2014. 

Coach Westerlund also coached for three seasons at Harford Christian School in Darlington Maryland prior to his collegiate coaching career. While at HCS he led the Boys Varsity program to the best season in program history at 24-6. That season Westerlund led the Eagles to their conference championship in seventeen years, and also the program’s first and only state championship.

Coach Westerlund completed his undergraduate in Sports Management and Biblical Studies from Lancaster Bible in 2013. While at LBC Westerlund lettered in soccer, basketball, and baseball. He was all-conference in soccer and all-region baseball during his time at LBC. He completed his Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University Irvine in 2015. Coach Westerlund is thrilled to be in Lima as part of the UNOH family.

UNOH UNDER WESTERLUND

TEAM HONORS

First Team All-WHAC

2024-25: Ryan Archey, Antonio King

2025-26: Antonio King

Second Team All-WHAC

2023-24: Ryan Archey

WHAC Player of the Week

2023-24: Ryan Archey

WHAC Offensive Player of the Week

2024-25: Antonio King, Ryan Archey

2025-26: Antonio King (4x)

WHAC Defensive Player of the Week

2024-25: Antonio King

2025-26: Caleb Chapman

WHAC All-Academic Team

2025-26: Demarcus Harris