An incredible experience

Ryan Richter, ‘11, learned a lot from his soccer coaches at La Salle University. After a career playing soccer professionally, he’s taken that with him into his new role as interim head coach of the Philadelphia Union.

For Ryan Richter, ‘11, soccer has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember. From playing professionally to most recently being named interim head coach of the Philadelphia Union, the lessons he learned from his coaches as a student-athlete at La Salle University have stayed with him.

When Richter, who was “born with a ball at my feet” into a soccer family, was looking at colleges, La Salle felt like the right fit for him, he said. Meeting the then-men’s soccer coaches, Pat Farrell, Bob Wilkinson, and Kevin Coleman solidified that feeling.

“When you’re 17, you don’t really know what you’re doing, making decisions and understanding the impact that can have on the rest of your life,” Richter said. “I think I got lucky that I chose the right place.”

Joining the Explorer soccer team gave Richter a sense of brotherhood, community, and purpose, he said, which has stayed with him to today. He’s still very involved with alumni from men’s soccer program and sees them often.

“It’s a really special community to be a part of, and one that I’m proud of,” he said.

The relationships that he made, both on and off the field, remain one of the most important and impactful parts of his Explorer experience, he said.

Richter, who was inducted into the Hall of Athletes in 2024, earned a number of accolades during his years as a student-athlete, including Atlantic 10 Student-Athlete of the Year, two-time Philadelphia Player of the Year, and two-time regional All-American.

Beyond just their coaching on the soccer field, though, he also credits Farrell, Wilkinson, and Coleman for all they did for him and his teammates personally.

“They were great mentors to me,” he said. “They were great mentors to the group of young men, teaching us not just on the field, but how to grow up, how to take care of your responsibilities on your own, and how to help us grow into men.”

While the soccer team played a big part in his decision to become an Explorer, Richter also gained a lot in the classroom.

As an accounting major, he had the opportunity to take part in internships that helped him see what that career path would look like.

“I realized I wasn’t cut out for that life, so this soccer thing better work out,” he said.

And it did.

After graduation, Richter went on to have a seven-year career playing professionally for teams in the U.S. and Canada, including the Philadelphia Union.

“An incredible experience,” is how he described his professional career. “The thing that I chased pretty much my entire life or was trying to work towards to make a realistic possibility my entire life.”

Being able to travel, play for different teams, and live in different countries and cities was a really special experience, he said.

“It’s the best job, it’s the best life, it’s the best thing ever. I try to tell the guys I work with, one day this ends and you’ll miss it forever,” he said. “I’m super grateful for my experience and all the people that helped me along my way as a player.”

Leaving the professional league didn’t mean Richter stopped playing though.

“Now I’ve got a bad knee and a bad ankle, and I’m playing in a men’s league, but I still love to compete,” he said.

He also stayed involved with soccer in another way: becoming a coach.

Coaching wasn’t new to him. It was something he’d been interested in even while playing professionally. When he was on the Union roster, Richter got involved with some of the team’s youth academy programming during the off-season. He credits Ian Monroe, former director of Union Youth, both for the opportunity and for helping him learn how to be a coach.

“I got a little taste of it while I was playing in every off season,” Richter said, and when his professional playing career ended, Monroe gave him the chance to work with the academy full-time.

Richter started coaching the youngest groups, the under-eights, and over four years with the academy he worked with all the different age groups.

In 2022, a new opportunity arose, being an assistant coach with the Union first team. Richter spent another three years in that role, before moving to Union II, acting as head coach for the team.

“I’ve had the opportunity throughout this organization to work with every age group and grow as a coach and as a leader and find the best ways that I believe I can help players succeed,” he said.

Richter stayed in that role until May 2026, when he was named interim head coach for the Philadelphia Union, coming full circle at the team where he first played professionally.

For him though, becoming head coach is about more than just the Union; it’s honoring all the people who helped get him to where he is today.

“This club means a lot to me and has been a part of my life for a long time,” he said. “It’s about the club of course, but Philadelphia, Southampton where I grew up, it’s representing those people. Representing La Salle, William Tennent High School, all the people who played a role in this region to help me in this space. And of course, all the good people in the club that have believed in me over the past 10 years.”

The coaches and staff he’s worked with at the Union and elsewhere have helped him reach a level in his coaching career where he is able to lead the team at the top level, he said.

“Now it’s my job to do a good job and prove all those people who supported me right,” he said.

As soccer is being celebrated on an international level in cities across the country, including Philadelphia, the energy around soccer is different in the U.S., Richter said. He hopes that energy and atmosphere translate to his team.

“It can go a long way for the players, and it just makes for an exciting experience. The atmosphere is just incredible,” he said. “We’re trying to piggy-back off that energy, put a good product on the field that people want to support, and hopefully gain some followers along with everything that’s going on in Philadelphia.”

Throughout his career in the soccer world, Richter has thought back to his La Salle soccer days, and everything he learned on the field and from his coaches.

“I’m very grateful, especially to the coaches that I had at La Salle because they were great people and they shaped me as a man,” he said.

He’s even taking some of their coaching techniques and is using them himself, most notably the importance of giving his players the chance to succeed, even if they make mistakes, something that Farrell, Wilkinson, and Coleman did for him and his teammates at 20^th and Olney.

“That’s something I learned a lot from and carried into how I coach today. Understanding everyone’s human and you try to lead people and push them in the right direction, but people make mistakes and it’s ok to correct them and give them second chances,” he said. “I learned that from the great people that I was able to work with at La Salle.”

-Naomi Thomas

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