[2] Riley played one collegiate season at Eastern Kentucky under Travis Ford.
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.
[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.