Dean was schooled in rugby at John Cleveland College, in Hinckley and played for Roanne in France for a year before returning to England to play for Leicester Tigers and was a police constable for Leicestershire Constabulary between the 1980s and 1990s before English rugby union became professional.

He was one of the top number eights in the world, winning 48 England caps and six caps for the British Lions on their 1989 and 1993 tours. He captained Leicester for four seasons in the early 1990s. During his playing career he won

the league twice, the cup three times, and was voted Whitbread's Rugby World player of the year in 1990/91. He played in the 1987, 1991 and 1995 World Cups.

At the end of his playing career Dean became a trainer and coach and soon took over from Dwyer and in his first full season as Director of Rugby at Leicester where they won the Allied Dunbar Premiership, the third time in club history. The Tigers successfully defended the title for four years in a row under him. Leicester also won two Heineken Cups in that period.

After leaving Leicester in 2004, ending a 20-year association with the club. He went on to coach French clubs at Grenoble and Toulouse before returning to the UK as Director of Rugby for Harlequins Rugby Football Club in 2005 following their relegation from the Zurich Premiership in the 2004-05 season, and led them back to the Premiership at the first attempt, in a season where they lost only one league game. Richards recently resigned from his post at Harlequins over the 'bloodgate' incident