Welcome aboard, Coach!
After eight days, Washington State has ended their search for a new head coach for the men’s basketball program, post Kyle Smith departure.
The name? Eastern Washington’s David Riley!
Washington State has hired Eastern Washington’s David Riley, sources told @TheFieldOf68.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 3, 2024
It’s been quite a week on the internet, and while it’s completely natural to be feeling caught up in the mixed bag of emotions, for now all we can do is welcome him the best way we know how. I’m excited to have answers, I’m hoping our team feels similarly, and for now that’s how I’ll leave it!
Firstly, the devil works hard but whoever updates Wikipedia pages works harder, as the coaching change is already up to date there.
No stranger to eastern Washington (regionally), Riley played ball at Whitworth University where he had 1,664 points in his career and nabbed three All-Northwest-Conference first team titles. He’d been with the Eagles up in Spokane since 2011, where he started as a Graduate Assistant and worked his way up. He’d been the head coach there since 2021, after serving as an assistant coach for seven seasons.
During the 2022/23 season, Eastern Washington made it to the second round of the NIT– a fact that we’ve previously tried to forget, considering who they knocked out, but it’s worth remembering now! Again, mixed emotions!
Overall, his head coaching tenure at EWU sits at a 62-38 record, where he was named Big Sky Coach of the Year for the 2022/23 season along with overseeing five Big Sky MVPs, in Jacob Wiley (2016-17), Bogdan Bliznyuk (2017-18), Mason Peatling (2019-20), Tanner Groves (2020-21), and Steele Venters (2022-23).
Welcome to Pullman, Coach Riley! Go Cougs!