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Nicholls State University men’s basketball coach Richie Riley is always on the go.
But he said he loves recruiting and being in basketball gyms around the country, so he wouldn’t want it any other way.
Riley spent some time with The Times in each of the past two weeks to talk about the Colonels 2017-18 season, Louisiana life, LSU coach Will Wade and much, much more.
Below is a Q&A with Riley, the now second-year coach at Nicholls and Managing Editor Casey Gisclair.
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CG: It’s a busy time. I know you’re tirelessly recruiting. What are some things you’re focused on this offseason?
RR: It is. We’ll be older next year. We do love the freshmen we brought in. So we’re looking to build with those guys that we brought in this past year and really add to it. We always believe in having a great mix from a recruiting standpoint. We recruit Louisiana very hard and we were fortunate to get a couple kids from around our area that are really going to be program guys. We’re excited about that and we want to continue to hit our area hard and keep the best guys home and then we also mix in some junior college and some transfer stuff just to have some great balance. We feel like we’ve done that so far. Going into year three, which will be the season after next season, hopefully we’ll have some momentum and continue to be going in that way.
CG: You guys do have two transfer players who you believe are going to be huge successes next year. Tell us about those guys.
RR: We’re really excited about both of those guys. Anytime you can sit out two high level guys in year one, I think it’s important. The first guy, Roddy Peters, was a former Top 40 guy in the country out of high school. He’s from the Washington DC area. He went to Maryland out of high school and was good. He had Freshman of the Week a couple of times in the ACC and he ended up transferring to South Florida after Maryland had an assistant coaching change. He was having a good career there and then got injured. We’re fortunate to get him at our place. He’s really progressed and he’s a big point guard. He’s 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds and has some of the best vision that I’ve coached. His IQ is tremendous. His ability to play in transition is tremendous. We’re excited about that. … The other guys is Tavon Sadler, who was a First-Team All-League player in the So-Con at UNC-Greensboro. He averaged around 16 a game. He was Freshman of the Year the year before that. He’s just really, really versatile. He has a chance to be one of the best guys I’ve ever had. That’s saying a lot because we had a guy at Clemson who was drafted this past year by the Spurs, but I think each of those guys are going to be good. They’ve got work to do. They need to have a good summer and a good preseason. But they’ve got a chance to be two of the best I’ve ever coached.
CG: You’ve now lived in Louisiana for a full year. How is it? Do the Riley’s like it here?
RR: I love Southeast Louisiana. I’ve been talking about it the whole time I’ve been on the road recruiting. One of the first questions people always ask is how do I like it here, and I love it. The No. 1 reason is the people. The people in south Louisiana have went above and beyond – whether it’s in Thibodaux or Houma or Terrebonne – anywhere we’ve been, they’ve gone above and beyond to make us feel like family. This is a fabulous place to raise your kids. I have a 3-year-old son and a 10-month-old son and it’s just great. You don’t have to worry about safety. Everywhere you go, people have their arms wide open to welcome you. And I’ve not even touched on the food yet. The food is incredible. You can go to just a basic cookout and the next thing you know, you’ve got crawfish and shrimp and all this stuff. It’s just an awesome place to live. … We’ve really fallen in love with it. My wife loves it. I love it. It’s been really good. My son, every time we cross the bridge to go from our house onto campus, he sees the water and he points and says, ‘There’s the bayou, Dad-Dad’. He says that every, single time. We’re all getting used to it.
CG: You were an assistant coach for a while. Now, you’re running a program. Has it sunk in yet that you’re a collegiate head coach?
RR: I think about that all of the time. It’s funny that you asked that. It was a dream of mine since I was a little biddy kid – just to coach college basketball at all, let alone at the Division I level. I sit around and eight years ago, I was an assistant coach at Pikeville College – a little biddy NAIA school in Kentucky. This basketball has taken me all the way around the country and has given me an opportunity to, not just be a head coach now, but also to coach in what I feel like is the best basketball conference in the country, the ACC. I’ve gotten to coach against the best of the best. Now, I get a chance to have my own program and it’s fun. Sometimes you catch yourself like watching a kid in the gym and saying, ‘You know, we should probably offer him.’ And then I think, ‘Wait. I’m the head coach. If we want to offer him, we can offer him.’ I don’t have to ask my boss anymore or have him come see him. So yes, it really is a big-time blessing to be at a great place like Nicholls.
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