Veteran FCS head coach Russ Huesman has an interesting tactic to deal with unacceptable penalties: "You've just got to start embarrassing them in front of the team"

Richmond (FCS - VA) beat Bucknell (FCS - PA) 35-14 to open the season, so Russ Huesman had every reason to run a feel-good film session this week. 

Instead the veteran head coach went the other direction.

Huesman opened the team meeting by putting up the names of the four Spiders who drew 15-yard penalties against Bucknell, along with what each one cost Richmond and the clip of the play itself. Then he told the room why he did it.

"I guess you've just got to start embarrassing them in front of the team," Huesman said, in video from Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter John O'Connor.

Four 15-yard penalties in a game you won by three touchdowns is the kind of thing that hides inside a comfortable final score. Huesman clearly does not want it hiding. Putting the names, the yardage, and the video up together takes away any wiggle room about who did what and how much it hurt.

If it was 2nd and 4, and the penalty put them in a 2nd and 15 situation, Huesman and his staff put that up for everyone to see, along with the players name and video of the actual penalty to drive a point home.

Huesman would go on to share that the four individuals with those costly penalties are among their best people and players, and hardest workers on the entire roster.

The approach seems simple, and I have to imagine its effective too. Huesman is showing the tape and letting the player sit with it in front of the guys he lines up next to. For programs destined to play in some close games, the math matters. Richmond won seven of its games by one score in 2025, so a pre-snap flag or a late hit is often the difference between a win and a Sunday spent explaining a loss.

Huesman played defensive back at Chattanooga, spent five seasons as Richmond's defensive coordinator from 2004 to 2008, then went back to UT-Chattanooga (FCS) and won three straight Southern Conference titles from 2013 to 2015 with three FCS playoff trips. He returned to Richmond as head coach in 2017 and has the Spiders in their second season in the Patriot League after a 7-6 finish in 2025, the program's first year in the league.

The Bucknell win is a good start on the scoreboard. The clear message this week is that a good start is not the same thing as a clean one.

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