Among the perks of being a writer for The Only Colors has been the chance to meet some of the behind-the-scene people in the Michigan State Athletic Department. One such person who I have met and spoken with on a few occasions is the athletic trainer for the Men’s Basketball Team, Nicholas Richey. Nick was generous enough to take some time from his busy schedule to answer a bunch of my questions. Editor’s Note: these responses were given during the course of the 2025-26 basketball season, but it was my choice
to wait until after the season to publish this. Any wording that seems off is due to that delay.
Let’s get to the interview.
1. Hey Nick, let’s start off with a quick job description. I’m sure some people do not know what the athletic trainer does. Please enlighten us.
NR: Athletic Trainers are, very often, the first line of defense for a student-athlete participating in sport. We specialize in injury evaluation, treatment and rehabilitation and prevention. However, we also extend from there to offer many services related to sport. This extension reaches into many areas that include emergency management, psychology/mental health, radiology, equipment services, disease prevention, etc. We often talk about with our kids that, ‘if they have an issue, start in the training room.’ Many times, we have an answer for
them, but we always know what direction to point them in.
2. I want to ask about your background. I know you did your undergrad at Purdue and then earned your master’s at Virginia Tech. While you were a student, did you have any involvement with those schools’ athletic departments? How did you get your first professional role as an athletic trainer? Please tell us the path of your career as an athletic trainer prior to joining Michigan State.
NR: As an undergrad student at Purdue, I spent time with football, women’s soccer, cheerleading and basketball. As a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech, I worked with the football program. I started with my first real job at the University of Notre Dame with men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse, moved to Illinois with football and was the head football athletic trainer until 2012. I became the Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine and Sports Performance at BGSU in 2012 and was there until 2014. I left to pursue the head football athletic trainer position at Wake Forest in 2014 and got a call from MSU in June of 2016. My wife and I are both from Indiana and wanted to move closer to home. This has more than worked out. We started here in August of 2016.
3. I know you have worked with both basketball teams and football teams during your career. Have you worked with any other sports? How do the job functions of what you do change between different sports. Please include any differences for both practice and on game day. Is it tougher being a trainer for football sheerly based on the number of players?
NR: Football is just a different beast. There are so many people and moving parts. It’s not that the injuries are all that different, but the volume and spotlight are different.
4. You came to MSU in 2016. In your decade with the Spartans, which players have stood out to you as being the biggest “gym rats” who live in the weight room or the most intense guys on the practice court? Any names on this year’s team that stand out for their practice regimen?
NR: Coach Izzo, for the most part, doesn’t recruit kids who aren’t gym rats and that lifestyle is encouraged here. We always have a few kids that spend a little more time than others; but, for the most part, these guys are always in the gym working on their craft.
5. A question on injuries, in your experience, is a player more likely to get injured in a game or in practice, specifically in basketball? Is basketball like football where everyone is dealing with at least some minor ailment by the time we get deep into the season? Are there a lot of players who are using braces and/or tape, or even getting cortisone injections, to deal with less severe injuries in order to not miss games?
NR: Practice. Our exposure force is primarily practice exposure. For every 40-minute game, we have approximately 5 to 6 hours of practice time, which translates into 2 to 3 days of practice for every game. Of course, there are always issues as I indicated earlier. We don’t do a lot of injections here, just not a lot of benefit there in my mind; as of today (1/26) we’ve done one this season. We do utilize treatment, mobility work, massage therapy, hydrotherapy medication and the weight room to address the myriad of stuff that we encounter throughout the season.
6. What does an average day for you look like during basketball season?
NR: I try and get in by 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. to exercise a bit. Breakfast for the team is most likely from 8 to 9 a.m. I will coordinate necessary injury check ins during and after breakfast and before classes start. I’ll knock out some administrative duties in mid- to late morning and then get ready for the guys to start showing up for practice prep shortly after noon. Practice starts at 3 p.m. and most of the time our post-practice treatment ends around 6 p.m.
7. Coach Izzo has, on at least a few occasions, said in a postgame press conference “It’s going to be a fun week of practice” after the team doesn’t play particularly well. Is there truth to that? Do Spartan practices have a different look and feel after a loss than they do after a win?
NR: Coach generally doesn’t say something that he doesn’t intend to follow through with. Depending on the time of year and when our next game is, we manage things a little bit differently. But if he promises tougher sledding, we all know to get ready.
8. In one of the games where I was sitting courtside taking pictures, you were sitting near me on the baseline and we had the opportunity to chat a little. You shared a little anecdote with me that when a Spartan player hits the floor during play and there is a whistle, you instinctively rush out there even before knowing if he is actually hurt in an effort to ensure there is a break in the action and to almost give the team a mini-timeout. Where did you learn that trick? How often would you say you do that? Any other things you can share that you do to influence the flow of the game in the Spartans’ favor?
NR: No answer. Other than, if I go on the floor before the play is over with, before the whistle, the player I’m checking on has to come off the floor. If I wait until the play is blown dead, I don’t have to remove the player from participating, so long as he’s healthy and able to play.
9. Has the new reality of unlimited transfers and NIL money impacted your ability to do your job effectively? Does the increased annual roster turnover take some of the joy out of your job?
NR: This has been an issue that we have had to deal with, but not nearly on the level of some other schools. That’s a tribute to Coach. I don’t affect the NIL world, so I do my best to take care of the guys I have and develop relationships that last. I don’t worry about how much money they make. That shouldn’t matter when it
comes to my effectiveness or the level of care I provide.
The Only Colors wishes to thank Nicholas Richey for his contributions to this article.
