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.