NMU chief marketing officer Derek Hall said head coach Shane Richardson and assistant coach in charge of the offensive line Joe Gatz were placed on administrative leave in a short, three-sentence statement emailed by Hall to The Mining Journal on Tuesday morning.

Hall said reasons for the leave “will not be released due to the privacy of personnel matters.”

No mention was made as to whether this was a paid leave, how long the leave would be for, or what the future of either coach with the struggling program will

The statement also noted that NMU associate head coach and offensive coordinator William “Billy” Lindquist will serve as interim head coach for this week’s nonconference game at Davenport University scheduled for noon Saturday in Grand Rapids.

Northern Michigan University head coach Shane Richardson, left, watches a play against Minnesota State-Moorhead at the Superior Dome in Marquette on Aug. 28. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

The Wildcats previously played Davenport this season, losing 35-16 in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game in Marquette on Sept. 20. That was also NMU’s homecoming contest.

Coverage of this Saturday’s game will be provided by Marquette radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

A search of the NMU athletics website, nmuwildcats.com, showed no posting of Hall’s statement, nor did an Internet search of the general NMU website, nmu.edu.

Richardson, 47, is in his third year as Wildcats’ head football coach as the team has won just one game in his tenure dating back to the start of the 2023 season. That was a 42-21 victory over Roosevelt in Arlington Heights, Illinois, on Oct. 18 of this year.

The team is 1-8 overall and 1-5 in the GLIAC this season following back-to-back 0-11 seasons in 2023 and 2024, giving him a record of 1-30 at Northern.

Joe Gatz

He was hired as the 23rd head coach in NMU football history on Dec. 28, 2022, as a former player in the program from 1996 to 2000 and a graduate of Northern with a bachelor’s degree in 2001.

Gatz joined the Wildcats coaching staff about a year and a half ago, in March 2024, after a stint as a position coach at Southwest Minnesota State and other positions at some Division I programs. He played at Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2017 and 2018.

Observers felt Richardson started in a big hole personnel-wise after the resignation of previous head coach Kyle Nystrom in November 2022. Nystrom’s Wildcats teams struggled to approach .500 in each of his five years as he posted a 13-40 overall record.

A number of potential All-American players left in the wake of the coaching change, at least one actually obtaining that status at another NCAA Division II school in 2023.

It showed in NMU’s performance in 2023, with the winless campaign including four games where the Wildcats gave up at least 60 points, two of those more than 70.

2024 showed improvement even as the record didn’t, the Wildcats losing a heartbreaking 16-10 overtime decision to Roosevelt at midseason in the Superior Dome and only allowing one opponent to break 60, a 63-14 home setback to Saginaw Valley State.

This summer and fall, Northern has been in a majority of its games, even holding the lead at halftime or well into the second half before breaking through with the win in Week 7.

The Wildcats opened at home with a 44-37 loss to Minnesota State-Moorhead, fell 23-18 at Northwood, and dropped a 20-7 home encounter with Division I St. Thomas in its first three games.

The GLIAC schedule got tougher for NMU, with the 19-point loss at Davenport the closest other than the victory. There has also been a 47-25 loss at SVSU, 35-7 home loss to nationally ranked Grand Valley State, 56-17 home loss to Michigan Tech in the annual Miner’s Cup game, and 70-35 setback at national No. 1 Ferris State last weekend.

Richardson came to Northern after being head coach at another Division II school, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, for eight years, having coached in various capacities there since the program’s inception in 2006.

He had also been a linebackers coach at NMU in 2002 and at Jamestown State (North Dakota) in 2003, then defensive backs coach at North Dakota State in 2004.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University email received from NMU chief marketing officer Derek Hall and an examination of the NMU athletics website, nmuwildcats.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.