Richard Ephraim Towers (February 10, 1931 – April 23, 2023) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He was the 12th head football coach at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, serving for seven seasons, from 1967 to 1973, and compiling a record of 29–37–2.^[1] Towers was the athletic director at Kansas State University from 1981 to 1985, Iowa State associate athletic director 1986–1989.

A native of Olathe, Kansas, Towers attended Kansas State University, where he played football as a halfback and ran track, competing in the half-mile and 400 metres hurdles.^[2]

Towers died from complications of multiple myeloma in Manhattan, Kansas, on April 23, 2023. He was 92.^[3][4]