Lettered in football, basketball, baseball, track, & tennis
College
Mississippi Delta Community College, Moorhead, MS, (1971-1972)
Played football, basketball, and tennis at MS Delta
Mississippi State, Starkville, MS, (1972-1975)
Set to earn a business degree and take over the family’s retail business, left a stats class and changed majors to physical education so he could pursue a coaching career
Became the third winningest active boys basketball coach in the nation in 2020
As of 2024, 49 seasons as basketball coach
With a 74-45 win over Jackson Academy in the MAIS Class 5A state tournament at Parklane Academy in McComb on February 21, 2020, Coach Duease became the winningest high school basketball coach in the state of Mississippi with 1,698 wins passing Norris Ashley who won 1,697 coach at Coahoma County & Ingomar from 1969 to 2012
Became winningest boys high school basketball in the state of Mississippi with 1,024 victories passing Norris Ashley’s 1,023 wins on November 9, 2017, as his team defeated St. Andrews 61-54
Led boys & girls teams to 39 MAIS State Championships and 14 MAIS Overall titles—only coach in MAIS history to win overall titles with boys and girls teams
Guided his boys teams to record of 1,109-685 and girls squads to record of 592-271
Paced girls teams to 2 MAIS Overall titles
Led boys teams to 12 MAIS Overall titles
Guided his boys teams to appearances in 10 of the last 15 (as of 2020) MAIS Overall titles
Coached boys teams for 41 years, girls teams for 26 years
Teams won games in 13 different states along with the District of Columbia
Boys team won 77 consecutive games from 2008 to 2011
Led boys team to 5 consecutive MAIS Overall titles from 2007 to 2011
Paced team to 6 straight MAIS State Championships from 2015 to 2020
Named MAIS Coach of the Year on 30 occasions
Added duties of athletic director in 1994
Coached both boys and girls basketball teams until 2002, when he relinquished the girls coaching job to focus on the boys team and A.D. duties
Notes
Coach Richard Duease is the winningest high school basketball coach in Mississippi history. In 2020, he became the 3rd winningest active high school basketball coach in the nation. Coach Duease has guided his basketball teams to 39 MAIS State Championships and 14 MAIS Overall Championships. He is the only coach in MAIS history to win overall titles with boys and girls teams.
Richard became the winningest boys and girls high school coach in Mississippi history on February 21, 2020, when his MRA boys defeated Jackson Academy 74-45 win in the Class 5A semifinals at Parklane Academy in McComb. His 1,698 wins passed Norris Ashley, who had 1,697 wins at Coahoma County and Ingomar from 1969 to 2012. He became the winningest boys coach on November 9, 2017 in a 61-54 win over St. Andrews with 1,024 wins passing Ashley’s mark of 1,023 victories.
Richard’s coaching career was created while he was sitting in a stats class at Mississippi State. He was six hours shy of a business degree and taking over the family business at Johnny’s Department store, when he suddenly realized he did not like where he was going. He walked out of the middle of the class, went to his advisors, and switched to a physical education bachelor’s degree which launched his amazing coaching tenure.
Coach Duease was the first inductee into the inaugural class of the Madison-Ridgeland Academy Athletics Hall of Fame in 2015. He was inducted into the MAIS Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.