Mike Riley (American football)

For other people named Mike Riley (American football), see Mike Riley (American football) (disambiguation).

Mike Riley

Mike Riley (b. 1952 Wallace, Idaho) is the current head coach of the Oregon State University Beavers football program.

Early Years

Riley grew up watching the Oregon State Beavers while his father, Bud Riley, served as defensive coordinator under legendary coach Dee Andros from 1965-1972. Riley was a hometown hero himself from his athletic days at Corvallis High School. Riley was the starting quarterback who led the Spartans to the state title game in both 1969 and in 1970. They came up short against Medford High School in 1969 27-0, but avenged the loss the following season when they met Medford again and came out victorious 21-10.

He considers the college town of Corvallis, Oregon his hometown.

College Playing Years

Riley played college football at the University of Alabama under legendary head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. In his four seasons at Alabama, he helped the Tide to four Southeastern Conference titles and the 1973 national championship.

Coaching

Riley stepped right in to coaching after his playing days ended, first as a graduate assistant at the University of California in 1975 then as a graduate assistant at Whitworth University where he received his master’s degree in physical education.

In 1977, he was hired as the defensive Coordinator and secondary coach at Linfield College. During his stay at Linfield he assisted head coach Ad Rutschman’s Wildcats to a six-year record of 52-7-1, which included five conference titles and the 1982 undefeated NAIA title team.

Riley coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League for the 1987-90 seasons and won two Grey Cups during that time. He also coached the San Antonio Riders of the defunct World League of American Football. He was hired to coach the San Antonio Texans of the CFL in 1993, but the team folded before it could begin play.

He returned to the college ranks in 1993 when then USC head coach John Robinson offered him the position of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach – he later became assistant head coach. The Mesa (Ariz.) Tribune named him the league’s top assistant coach in 1993 after leading the Trojan offense to record setting numbers. Then USC quarterback Rob Johnson earned numerous Pac-10 and NCAA records and would later become a first-round draft pick. “He’s a player’s coach, who gets the most out of you by treating you like normal,” Johnson later said.

Riley remained at USC through the 1997 season, helping the Trojans to victories in the Rose, Cotton, and Freedom Bowls. USC won one outright league title, shared another, and finished second one time.

Oregon State Beavers

Riley was hired as the head coach at Oregon State in 1997 to replace Jerry Pettibone. In the Beavers first season under Riley, they posted a record of 3-8. This was a difficult season for Riley, trying to run his NFL style offense with players remaining from the Jerry Pettibone teams that were primarily recruited to run the wishbone triple-option. The 1998 season was another big step in the right direction, with the Beavers posting a 5-6 record, their best record since the 1971 Beavers coached by Dee Andros went 5-6. The 1998 season was capped off by the double-overtime thriller of a Civil War game where the Beavers won 44-41.

Although he coached for only two seasons with the Beavers, Riley is considered to have laid the foundation for the success of the Beavers in the years to come. The 1999 team, led by Dennis Erickson, posted a 7-5 record and a trip to the Oahu Bowl ending the record 28 season streak of sub .500 seasons.

San Diego Chargers

In 1999, the opportunity to become a head coach in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers came Riley's way, which was too hard to pass up. Riley left Oregon State after two seasons to coach in the NFL. Riley coached the Chargers from 1999 to 2001. He was 14-34 in his time as head coach of the Chargers. His last game was indicative of his last season, as the Chargers played well, but one poor play turned the tide. The 2001 Chargers ended their season in Week 16, with a loss to the Seattle Seahawks, after Doug Flutie passed for 377 yards and drove for the tying field goal with 16 seconds remaining, but poor special teams allowed a kick to be returned 64 yards to set up a 54-yard field goal.

Oregon State Beavers- Part 2

After spending one season with the New Orleans Saints as an assistant coach, Riley returned to become the head coach at Oregon State in 2003 after Dennis Erickson left for his second shot at the NFL.

After starting the 2006 season 2-3, the Beavers went 9-4 on the regular season, including an upset of #3 USC in Corvallis. The Beavers completed their impressive season with a win over Missouri in the Brut Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, ending their season with a 10-4 record.

Riley has a perfect 3-0 NCAA football bowl record as a head coach having gone to and won bowl games three of the last four years (2003 Las Vegas Bowl, 2004 Insight Bowl, 2006 Sun Bowl). Overall, he's 6-0 in bowl games as a head coach and assistant coach combined.

In Riley's second stint the Beavers have produced two current NFL starting Quarterbacks Matt Moore and Derek Anderson.

Head coaching record

Season-by-season record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
Oregon State Beavers (Pacific 10) (1997–1998)
1997	Oregon State	3-8	0-8
1998	Oregon State	5-6	2-6
Oregon State:		8-14	2-14
Oregon State Beavers (Pacific 10) (2003–present)
2003	Oregon State	8-5	4-4		W Las Vegas Bowl
2004	Oregon State	7-5	5-3		W Insight Bowl
2005	Oregon State	5-6	3-5
2006	Oregon State	10-4	6-3		W Sun Bowl
2007	Oregon State	8-4	6-3	3	Emerald Bowl
Oregon State (second term):		38-24	24-18
Total:		46-38
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
†Indicates Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, BCS, or CFP / New Years' Six bowl. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

External links

• Oregon State Official Bio