As a head coach in Division 1 Men's Basketball, Richie Riley was ranked 16th on ESPN.com's “40 Under 40” list in 2020, and a finalist for the
Ben Jobe Award, presented annually to the top NCAA Division I minority coach by CollegeInsider.com. 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 held assistant positions at
UAB and
Clemson before accepting the head coaching position at
Nicholls State, becoming the 11th coach in program history, replacing
J. P. Piper. After two seasons with Nicholls State, Riley was named the 10th head coach in program history at
South Alabama, replacing
Matthew Graves. ==Head coaching record==