Arkansas alum, former South Carolina, Georgia coach Richard Bell passes away
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Multiple SEC programs are mourning the passing of Richard Bell this weekend. He was 88.
Bell was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on Sept. 2, 1937. After playing for the Arkansas Razorbacks for 4 seasons (1956-69), Bell got into coaching. He would coach until 2017, including time with South Carolina and Georgia.
After serving as Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator from 1970-74, Bell joined the South Carolina coaching staff for the 1975 season. He served in this role for the Gamecocks until 1981.
Bell was named South Carolina’s head coach ahead of the 1982 season. He only lasted 1 season in the position, going 4-7.
According to The Post and Courier, Bell and former South Carolina AD Bob Marcum offered different versions of the conversations that led to the coach’s dismissal, but it’s established that they disagreed when it came to making staff changes. Bell sued USC for lost years on his contract, alleging Marcum defamed him. Bell won $171,000.
Bell’s first stop after South Carolina was going back to being a defensive coordinator at Duke. He held that position until 1987. Bell was on staff at East Carolina as DC for 1 season (1988) before he joined the Georgia staff. Bell was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator from 1989-93.
After Georgia, Bell spent 1994 as Navy’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He was then on staff at Air Force from 1995-2006 as the program’s DC, his final college coaching job. Bell was defensive coordinator for the Prince Avenue Christian private school from 2010-17.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
