Mike Riley, Ore State Assistant HC .... or not

From the article:

Mike Riley, who will serve as the assistant head coach with a-to-be determined position assignment, has won numerous national honors including the then Pac-10 Coach of the Year. He returns to OSU for the third time as the school's all-time winningest head coach with 93 victories in stints from 1997-98 and 2003-14. The former head coach at Nebraska and in the professional ranks with the NFL's then San Diego Chargers, the Canadian Football League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the World League's San Antonio Riders, has led OSU to eight bowl games. He has coached three of the Beavers' national award recipients (Mike Hass, Brandin Cooks, Alexis Serna).
 
"Current and former players thriving in the NFL and in life are proof of Coach Riley's tremendous ability to recruit outstanding young men," Smith said. "He understands what it takes to win in this conference, and how to evaluate and develop student-athletes. There is no one better to have represent OSU in the homes of recruits as we build this program."

Appointment: Assistant Head Coach (assignment TBD)
Education: Alabama, 1975 – bachelor's degree in social science; Whitworth, 1977 -- master's degree in physical education
Family: Wife, Dee. Son, Matthew Daughter, Kate
Hometown: Corvallis, Oregon
Bowl Games: 13
Head Coach History: 2015-17, Nebraska; 1997-98 & 2003-14, Oregon State; 1999-2001, San Diego Chargers; 1991-92, San Antonio Riders; 1987-1992, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Assistant Coaching History:  2002, New Orleans Saints; 1993-96, USC; 1986, Northern Colorado; 1983-85, Winnipeg Blue Bombers; 1977-82, Linfield; 1976, Whitworth; 1975, California
 
Riley Notables:
43 – Years in the coaching profession (NCAA, NFL, CFL, WLAF).
93 – School-record victories for OSU under Coach Riley
8 – Bowl games at Oregon State (6-2 record)
34 – Number of Beavers drafted by NFL teams during his OSU coaching tenure
2 – Number of Biletnikoff Award (top receiver) recipients (Brandin Cooks & Mike Hass)
112 – Coach Riley's victories as a college head coach
109 – Coach Riley's victories as a professional head and assistant coach
315 – Victories during Coach Riley's career at all levels.
31 – Number of weeks OSU held a spot in the Associated Press top 25 during Riley era
8 – Winning season records during Riley's OSU tenure
3 – Number of victories over top 10 teams during Coach Riley's tenure
2 – Twice named the American Football Coaches Association Regional Coach of the Year.







 
He's definitely better suited for an assistant coaching position imo vs being a head coach.  Happy for him and his family.

 
RedNebraskan said:
Good for him. The universe has finally fixed itself.
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Amen.  Got that right.    In the mean time, Frost got some good experience as a HC, NU fans learned a bit more patience (so I hope) as it worked out to finally get the right guy to guide Husker Nation.   Sometimes it is through many travails that we inherit the promise land.  (Someone can now start singing an old Gospel hymn).  

In the end, I'm glad for Mike and glad for us.  A mistake corrected is a lesson learned.   As others mentioned this will save us a few coins.

 
 The Oregonian article

http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2017/12/mike_riley_to_return_to_oregon.html

Quoted in part:

CORVALLIS -- Following a three-year hiatus, Mike Riley is back at Oregon State.

Riley will return as an assistant head coach under Jonathan Smith, the school announced Thursday, reuniting the longtime OSU head coach with Smith -- the former quarterback he recruited as a walk-on in 1997.

The return will mark Riley's third time on the Beavers coaching staff, although his official assignment has not yet been determined.

Riley, 64, has the most wins by any head football coach in Oregon State history. He compiled a 93-80 record during two stints from 1997-98 and 2003-14. His last tenure ended when he left OSU to take the head coaching job at Nebraska, where he went 19-19 in three seasons.

In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald after his Nov. 25 firing, Riley said he wouldn't mind being on a coaching staff as a secondary or quarterbacks coach, saying that he still felt young and had the energy to do it.

"If there's a fit somewhere -- coach or consult -- yeah, that'd be awesome," Riley told the newspaper. "But it has to be right fit for him."

Riley coached Smith for two seasons before he left OSU for the first time and became head coach of the San Diego Chargers. Riley returned in 2003 after his replacement, Dennis Erickson, became the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Smith, who set multiple passing records at OSU from 1997-2001, joined Erickson's staff as a graduate assistant in 2002 and remained under Riley in 2003 before become quarterbacks coach at Idaho in 2004.
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4skers89 said:
Great for Riley but more importantly how much is he paid and how much does that save us? Please tell me he isn't Bo'ing us.
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I'd guess his wage will be comparible with the other Oregon State assistant coaches. I don't think it too likely that a lot of other FBS schools would be beating down his door to pay him big wages to be their head coach. I'm happy Mike found a home doing what he loves and will be offsetting at least a little bit of the money UNL owes him. He could just do nothing instead & get paid the same.

 
This brings up a thought - I wonder how Nebraska fans will remember Mike Riley in the future?

Will he be despised like Bill Callahan - a swear word in some quarters  or will he simply be forgotten like Bill Jennings and many others before The BobFather came on the scene? 

My gut feeling is that he won't be despised like BC - even thought he (MR) had a worse record.  BC was our first real taste of what NU football was like pre 1962.  He was the first of the Non-Husker coaches and is seen as the one that started to migrate us away from NU traditions and culture.  My guess is that MR will be seen as the bridge we had to cross to get back home (continuing the homecoming theme of this thread) - getting us back to the Nebraska Way.  So, if SF is successful, & I believe he will be, I think MR will be soon forgotten and otherwise seen as a nice guy that was the wrong fit for NU.   I wish him well back at OSU

 
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