Richard Allen Riley II[1] (born January 8, 1983) is an American college basketball coach and current head coach at the University of South Alabama.[2]

Richie Riley
Current position
TitleHead coach
TeamSouth Alabama
ConferenceSun Belt
Record110–83 (.570)
Biographical details
Born (1983-01-08) January 8, 1983 (age 41)
London, Kentucky, U.S.
Playing career
2001–2002Eastern Kentucky
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2003–2005Georgetown (KY) (Assistant)
2005–2006Hawaii Pacific (Assistant)
2006–2009Pikeville (Assistant)
2009–2011Coastal Carolina (Assistant)
2011–2012Eastern Kentucky (Assistant)
2012–2014UAB (Assistant)
2014–2016Clemson (Assistant)
2016–2018Nicholls State
2018–presentSouth Alabama
Head coaching record
Overall145–111 (.566)
Tournaments2–1 (TBC)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Southland regular season (2018)
Awards
Southland Coach of the Year (2018)

Playing career

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Riley played one collegiate season at Eastern Kentucky under Travis Ford. He graduated in 2005 from EKU.

Coaching career

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Widely talked about as one of the highest regarded up-and-coming head coaches in Division 1 Men's Basketball, Richie Riley was recently ranked 16th on ESPN.com's “40 Under 40” list and a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, presented annually to the top NCAA Division I minority coach by CollegeInsider.com. Known as an elite program builder and high level recruiter, especially in the transfer portal, Richie Riley's South Alabama Jaguars have had a top rated recruiting class all three of his years.

Riley joined Cliff Ellis's staff at Coastal Carolina for his first Division one assistant coaching job, spending three seasons there before a one-year stop as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Eastern Kentucky. He then had assistant stops at UAB and Clemson before accepting the head coaching position at Nicholls State becoming the 11th coach in program history, replacing J. P. Piper.[3][4][5]

After two seasons with Nicholls State, Riley was named the 10th head coach in program history at South Alabama, replacing Matthew Graves.[2]

Head coaching record

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NCAA DI

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Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Nicholls State Colonels (Southland Conference) (2016–2018)
2016–17 Nicholls State 14–17 7–11 T–8th
2017–18 Nicholls State 21–11 15–3 T–1st
Nicholls State: 35–28 (.556) 22–14 (.611)
South Alabama Jaguars (Sun Belt Conference) (2018–present)
2018–19 South Alabama 17–17 8–10 8th
2019–20 South Alabama 20–11 13–7 T–2nd
2020–21 South Alabama 17–11 10–7 3rd (East)
2021–22 South Alabama 21–12 9–7 5th TBC Semifinals
2022–23 South Alabama 19–16 9–9 T–7th
2023–24 South Alabama 16–16 8–10 T–7th
South Alabama: 110–83 (.570) 57–50 (.533)
Total: 145–111 (.566)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

References

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  1. ^ "Richie Riley (South Alabama Jaguars)". coachesdatabase.com. Retrieved July 28, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "RICHIE RILEY NAMED HEAD MEN'S BASKETBALL COACH AT SOUTH ALABAMA - University of South Alabama". 15 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Richie Riley Bio".
  4. ^ "Richie Riley Bio - UAB Athletics Official Athletic Site".
  5. ^ "The Official Website of Nicholls Athletics".