It was announced this morning that Mike Riley, Oregon State’s head football coach of 14 seasons, has made the decision to leave Corvallis to coach for the University of Nebraska. To Beaver fans across the country Mike Riley was a lot more than a football coach – he was also an incredible father and friend to many that did wonders for Oregon State on and off the field.
It was a chilly night in Corvallis, and the Beavers were battling head to head with the then #6 Arizona State Sun Devils. On the sideline stood a proud man calling out all the plays, looking very calm and poised while giving out signals to his starting quarterback, senior Sean Mannion. The Beavers were down by 10 points at half time, but by the end of the game they had made an incredible game-winning comeback that will not soon be forgotten in Oregon State history.
That man, who is known to most as Mike Riley, has always been just an average guy who has been passionate about the game since his childhood. Little did he know then that his passions would have a much larger impact later on in his life.
“I always knew I was going to coach,” Riley said. “I never thought of anything else. When I was younger, my dad worked at a small high school. He was a history teacher and also coached three sports, which were football, basketball,and baseball. For as long as I can remember I was in the locker room, on the bus or on the sideline, and I never thought I wanted to do anything else.”
Michael Joseph Riley was born on July 6, 1953 in Wallace, Idaho. He was the son of a high school football coach, Bud Riley. His family moved to Corvallis after his father was hired to be a secondary coach for OSU and later became the defensive coordinator for the Beavers. Riley went to Corvallis High where he was the starting quarterback for the Spartans, and he then went on to play for Alabama. Many thought that he would go on to play in the NFL, but Riley knew he had a different calling.
“Alabama had a famous NFL hall of famer. He was left handed, and so was I,” Riley laughed. ” I was going to Alabama to be the next Kenny Stabler, and that lasted a week.”
After deciding he did not want to pursue a career in playing football, Riley went to UC Berkeley in 1975 to become a graduate assistant. He then went to Whitworth College to obtain his Masters and to have something to fall back on just in case coaching was not in his cards.
“The NFL did not want me,” Riley said. “I was not a great player. I was a very average player. They actually did not think I could play QB, so they moved me to defensive back.” Despite this, Riley says he did not regret his decision to go to Alabama, as that is where he and his wife, Dee, met.
Fortunately, Riley’s dreams of coaching became reality when he was asked to be the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at a small Division II school, Linfield College. He went on to travel to different places while coaching for different teams, and he believed that the obstacles that he has faced then lead to where he is today.
“Our family moved a lot because of me coaching, and that has been an interesting thing,” Riley added. “We had a great life at my first job. I taught some classes and coached the JV baseball team, and Dee and I got married. It was a great life.”
Riley and Dee felt adventurous and moved after getting an offer to coach in Canada, since they had no kids at the time. They ended up living there for six years. Riley was then called to coach for NFL Europe, where his first stop was Texas. “We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We loved it,” Riley said. Riley sought to travel the world while doing something he enjoyed and being close to his wife.
“We then moved to California, because Mike accepted on offer to play for USC,” said Dee. “That was traumatic, but we ended up living in Seal Beach, where the skies were blue and beautiful. I told Mike that I didn’t care if we had to live in a two bedroom apartment, I wanted to live there.”
After living in California for four years, Riley applied to become the head coach of OSU, since the position had opened up.
“It was like a full circle for me,” Riley said. “I grew up here, my dad, he coached here when I was going to high school. I was an Oregon State fan growing up, and a position opened up and I applied and I ended up getting it.”
After many years of traveling, Riley decided that it was finally time to go back home – and that was Corvallis. He grew up and spent his teenage years in this cozy small town. The salary of accepting the job was not too bad either. According to the Seattle Times, Riley’s deal as head coach at Oregon State University was around $185,000.
“We stayed in Corvallis for two years, and then went to San Diego,” Riley adds. “That lasted for three years, and I got a job offer as a assistant coach for Saints, and then I took that job. Then the Oregon State head coach position opened up again.”
The head coach position opening up at OSU was proof that Riley was meant to be in Corvallis. According to Riley, it is not likely a coach is able to return back to a place he coached at before. When Oregon State offered him the job, he didn’t have to think twice. While going from one coaching job to another, his wife agreed that if there was one place that she’d love to live again it would be Corvallis, and she certainly got her way.
“We had a goal,” Riley explained. “That goal was to never move again. That was in 2003, and 12 years ago today. That is unusual in our business to stay that long in one place and I’m proud of it.”
Riley is the longest tenured coach, which means he has coached at Oregon State for more than 10 years. Not only does he have this going for him, but he has also set multiple records at OSU. He has a total of 88 wins, which are the most wins any coach at this university has achieved. He has coached dozens of players with All-American Honors, as well as helping players get drafted into the NFL. His last player that got drafted was Brandin Cooks, a first round pick who currently plays for the Saints.
“Mike is such a genuine guy,” Rod Perry, an Assistant Coach for OSU’s football team said. “He is extremely passionate with his coaching, and it shows during games, and especially at practices.”
Riley, whose contract with OSU was set to last until 2021, believes that wins and losses are history but relationships are forever. He liked being the head coach because he gets to decide what’s good for his players and he gets to form a program that is good for the development for young people. According to Riley, “Its not just about football.” He wants a program that has substance, and that is his motivation.
“Mike is really good at what he does,“ Perry said. “He not only cares about the direction of where this program is heading, but also where his players are going in life. There is a reason why he is one of the longest tenured coaches in the Pac-12, and college football in general.”
“Coach Riley doesn’t want players to fail, that’s why he devotes so much time and effort in everything he does,” said Jalen Grimble, a sophomore and a defensive tackle for Oregon State. “He is more than a coach to us, he’s almost like a dad. His door is always open for anyone to come in. He means more to us than being a coach.”
Does Coach Riley have any regrets?
“If I could really go back and change one thing,” Riley began, “ I would have stayed in Corvallis instead of taking that job in San Diego.”