INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Although UConn’s campus is more than a 12-hour drive away from Lucas Oil Stadium, the site of the Final Four is in one UConn staff member’s backyard. Student manager Jack Richason is a freshman at UConn, and he hails from Carmel, Indiana. Richason attended Carmel H igh School, which is 25 miles away from the site of the Final Four. “I’ve been going to Colts games since I’ve been a kid,” Richason said. “It’s been a lot of fun just going in there today, and seeing it while being a part of UConn, it was great.” At Carmel, Richason gained valuable experience under head coach Ryan Osborne. Osborne won two state championships as an assistant coach in 2012 2013, and two state championship as Carmel’s head coach in 2019 2021. Richason credits Osborne for allowing him to learn as much as he could while at Carmel. “They were great, when I was a sophomore I got cut from the JV team,” Richason said. “I talked to coach Osborne and I had asked him if I could stay on and help out. It started as a manager role and it grew as my time went on and I got more coaching responsibilities like helping out with the JV team, and helping out with scouting. I wanted to learn whatever, and it helped a lot.” Coach Osborne also had kind words for Richason on social media back in late February, supporting Richason’s future at UConn and giving him props for his time at Carmel. “There’s no doubt he’s in there hustling for the Huskies very much like he hustled for the Greyhounds,” Osborne said on X (formerly Twitter). “Big time impact on the program. We appreciate our student managers and all the behind the scenes work they put in. Invaluable.” Richason’s dream is to become a coach one day, and starting his journey under two-time national champion head coach Dan Hurley is a great way to start. “I’ve always wanted to be a coach ever since I was little,” Richason said. “I want to be a coach and this was the next step in that journey. This is always something I’ve wanted to do.” UConn plays Illinois inside Lucas Oil Stadium for the Final Four on Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET. ...read more read less