RUSTON, La. -- After 20 years on the road, Jeff Richardson has decided it's time to go home.

The Louisiana Tech baseball coach known as "Whitey,'' has resigned from his post to move his family back to their home in Grand Island, Neb. Pitching coach Brian Rountree was named interim coach and will be considered for the job.

"I'm going home,'' Richardson said. "It's family, 100 percent family. That's the bottom line. My wife, her brothers, aunts, uncles, my parents all live in Grand Island, Nebraska. I've got a home there and a couple of businesses.''

Richardson leaves Tech after four years as coach. During his tenure he accumulated a 99-129 record, but the record is deceiving. He took over a program that had produced six straight non-winning seasons. In 2001, Richardson guided the Bulldogs to a 32-26 mark -- their first winning season since '92 -- while winning two games in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the first time in school history.

This past season the Bulldogs were 21-37 in their first season in the Western Athletic Conference, one of the top baseball conferences in the country.

"That's shocking,'' said first baseman Kyle Humphreys, reached at his home in Houston. "I liked him. I thought he was a little too laid back sometimes. You need to get on people sometimes and he never really did do that much, but that's good in a way.''

The decision to leave Tech was a tough one, Richardson said. His ties to Tech and Ruston run deep. He was a star infielder with the Bulldogs from 1985-86 and still ranks second all-time for stolen bases with 64 and holds the single-game record with four stolen bases. After the '86 season, he was drafted in the seventh round by the Cincinnati Reds. Richardson made it to the major leagues in '89 and was the youngest starting shortstop in the majors at age 23.

"We know the pull to be back in Nebraska for both Whitey and (wife) Jane was strong,'' Tech athletic director Jim Oakes said. "I selfishly regret not having his services as coach, but I understand his desire to be back closer to home.''