by Brenda June Temple
CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington men’s basketball coach David Riley has resigned his position at the university to take the head coach job at Washington State University.
Statement from Eastern Washington Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics Tim Collins:
I would like to thank Coach David Riley for his 13 years of service to Eastern Washington University.
Dave is an EWU alum and made a significant impact on our department and our community. He started as a graduate assistant, worked his way up to assistant coach, and finished the last three years as the head coach for our men’s basketball program. We wish the best to Coach and Emily as they make their move down 195 to Whitman County and look forward to continuing the rivalry between our institutions in the future.
The search for our next head coach will begin immediately. We will work to identify a leader who will continue to build on the basketball success we have all celebrated. In the last 25 years, we have had five different head coaches win a Big Sky championship.
Our search to find the sixth begins now.
In three seasons, Riley had a 62-38 overall record at Eastern, going 42-14 in Big Sky games.
Riley led the Eagles to back-to-back Big Sky regular season championships in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. He was named Big Sky Coach of the Year in ’23 and Co-Coach of the Year in ’24.
Eastern set a program and conference record in the ’22-’23 season with an 18-game winning streak.
During his tenure, Riley coached one Big Sky MVP, three first team All-Conference selections, four second team, two Freshman of Year and one honorable mention. The Eagles had 14 Big Sky All-Academic and 10 National Association of Basketball Coaches honor court selections in Riley’s three season’s leading the team.
Riley has been with the program since 2011, starting as a graduate assistant and the team’s Director of Operations. He earned his Masters degree from Eastern in 2013. In 2014, Riley was promoted to Assistant Coach. Riley was named the team’s head coach following the 2020-21 season.
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Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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