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]
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