John R. Richards

John Robertson "Big John" Richards (February 24, 1875 – October 28, 1947) was an American football player, coach, educator, and public administrator. He served as the head coach at Colorado College (1905–1909), the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1911, 1917, 1919–1922), and Ohio State University (1912), compiling a career college football record of 58–21–8.

In 1904, Richards was appointed as the principal of a high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Previously he had been a high school football coach and economics instructor in Dubuque, Iowa and a principal of military academies in Minnesota and Missouri. After retiring from coaching, Richards was a director of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District, a part of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, from 1929 to 1947. He died on October 28, 1947 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 72.