Richard L. Biddle (born November 26, 1947) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He served as head football coach at

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

from 1996 through 2013, compiling a record of 137–73. This ranks him first at Colgate in terms of total wins and he has achieved the best winning percentage of any Colgate coach with seven or more years at the helm of the Raiders.

Playing career

Biddle was an all-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for two seasons at Duke. The former Blue Devil co-captain received third team Associated Press All-America honors in his senior year and was a participant in the Blue-Gray and Hula Bowl games. Biddle was a three-time winner of Duke's Hatchet Award, given to the most valuable player on defense. In his senior year he also received the Blue Devil Club Award as the senior who contributed the most to the team. He is a member of the All-Century Team at Duke. After going undrafted in the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

, Biddle signed with the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) on May 3, 1971. He was released before the start of the regular season on June 23, 1971. Biddle signed with the

Youngstown Hardhats The Youngstown Hardhats were a semi-professional football team that played from 1972 to 1974 and 1976 to 1981. The team was based in Youngstown, Ohio, and competed in the Midwest Football League (1962–1978), Midwest Football League from 1972 to 1 ...

of the Midwest Football League in 1972. He broke his leg in the eleventh game of the season, and missed the rest of the year.

Coaching career

Biddle worked as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

for

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

in 1971 after his release from the Alouettes. Biddle is the first Colgate coach to ever record nine straight seasons with seven or more victories. In 2012, he led the Raiders to the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United States. Outside the Ivy League, it is among the most selective gr ...

title and the NCAA FCS Playoffs (first round loss to Wagner). Overall, he led Colgate to seven Patriot League Championships (1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2012). Biddle retired after the 2013 season and was succeeded by Dan Hunt.

Head coaching record

References

1947 births Living people American football linebackers Allegheny Gators football coaches Colgate Raiders football coaches Duke Blue Devils football players Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Montreal Alouettes players Navy Midshipmen football coaches Players of American football from West Virginia Sportspeople from Parkersburg, West Virginia Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches {{1990s-collegefootball-coach-stub