MIKE RILEY

Age:  56

School:  Oregon State

Alma Mater:  Alabama, 1974

Conference:  Pac-10

Salary:  $1,100,000

Official Bio:   www.osubeavers.com

Years Coaching:  7

Career Record:  47 - 38   .553

Years at School:  7

Record at Oregon State:  47 - 38  .553

2007 Record:  9 - 4   .692

2007 Cost per Win:  $98,333

Attorney/Agent:   

Contract: 

December 2008 Buyout:  $1,000,000

Coaches Hot Seat Analysis

Something that very few college football fans know about Mike Riley is that he played football at Alabama for Paul "Bear" Bryant.  How Mike Riley, who grew up in Corvallis, Oregon, the home of Oregon State (where his father was the defensive coordinator at OSU), as a hotshot starting QB for Corvallis High School, got to Tuscaloosa, Alabama is a mystery, but it does reveal a lot about the man.  We don't know this, but we don't think Riley went to Alabama, which was loaded with QBs at that time, because he thought he might earn the starting QB job, but rather he ended up in Tuscaloosa so that he could learn how one of the very best coaches of that era went about preparing, motivating, and coaching his football team.  If that was the reason that Riley went to Bama, then he sure picked a great football coach to play for, and now as Riley enters this 8th year at Oregon State he has the Beavers poised to take another step-up in the Pac-10 conference.  Another thing we never understood about Mike Riley, was why he took the San Diego Chargers job in 1999, because everything we have seen about the man has led us to believe that he is a lot more ideally suited for the college game.  Another vexing question is why the San Diego Chargers thought that a guy that had posted an 8-14 record in two years at Oregon State would be a good candidate for their job.  Whatever the reasons on both sides, Riley put up a 14-34 record in three years with the Chargers, and after one year as an assistant with the New Orleans Saints, he found himself in a very interesting conundrum.  In December 2002 Dennis Franchione left Alabama for Texas A&M and sometime over the next 10 days or so the Alabama AD Mal Moore offered the Bama job to Riley.  At the same exact time, UCLA AD Dan Guerrero was considering offering Riley the Bruins head coaching job, but in the end he ended up hiring Karl Dorrell.  So Riley's alma mater in Alabama is offering him their head coaching job, there are people inside UCLA that are pushing him forward for the head coaching position in Westwood, and what was going through Mike Riley's head at that time would be hard for anyone to guess.  Okay, we will guess and say that Riley didn't really want the Alabama job for many reasons, especially if he could get a head coaching job on the west coast with a Pac-10 team.  Well, UCLA hired Karl Dorrell, Alabama hired Mike Price, and then Riley got a stroke of luck when Dennis Erickson left Oregon State for the 49ers, so Riley could return to his home town to coach the Beavers.  Talk about making a loop, Riley almost took the Alabama job (some say he did take the Bama job only to be overruled by a higher power), was almost the UCLA coach, and he then ends up back in Corvallis!  Whatever the reasons for Riley's travels and potential other jobs, Riley seems at ease with himself and content to continue building the Oregon State football program, and over the past couple of years, OSU has taken a noticeable step-up, and the question now is:  Are they ready to challenge the USC Trojans for supremacy in the Pac-10? Oregon State does not have the talent to go toe-to-toe with USC, but they can compete with them in in a one game scenario, and that gives them an opportunity to make some noise in 2008, and '08 is a key year for several of the 2nd tier teams to separate themselves from the rest of  the teams in the Pac-10.

Coaches Hot Seat Bottom Line

We predict that Mike Riley and Oregon State will have a 9-3 record in 2008.  The Pac-10 is not shy about diving right into the conference schedule, and Oregon State travels to Stanford on the opening night of the football season, Thursday August 28, to open their '08 campaign.  Stanford is still building under Jimmy Harbaugh, and Oregon State should have too much for the Cardinal in this game.  After one game, OSU is 1-0.  Week 2 is a very interesting game for Oregon State as they travel to Happy Valley to play Penn State and Joe Paterno.  Penn State is a very difficult place to play for non-Big Ten teams, and we see the Nittany Lions getting the win in this game.  After two games, OSU is 1-1.  Hawaii, minus June Jones, arrives in Corvallis in week 3, and in a competitive game until the half, OSU finally pulls away to get a convincing win.  After three games, OSU is 2-1.  The biggest game of the year, except for Oregon in the last game, arrives in week 4 when the USC Trojans show up in Corvallis.  Two years ago Oregon State beat USC at home 33-31, and we see another close game this time around, with OSU getting another big win over the Trojans.  After four games, OSU is 3-1.  After a big win over USC, Oregon State travels to Salt Lake City to play an improving and experienced Utah team that they beat in 2007.  In a great intersectional game, we see the Utes getting a win in this game, which drops the OSU record to 3-2.  Paul Wulff and Washington State travel to Corvallis in week 6 and Oregon State will be way too strong for Wazzou in this game.  With a win over WSU, Oregon State is 4-2.  Oregon State travels to Seattle in week 7, to play for what promises to be an improved Husky team led by Jake Locker.  This should be a very hard fought game, much like the game last year in Corvallis, with Washington getting a close win.  After seven games, OSU is 4-3.  After a tough loss to Washington, OSU has a week off before Dennis Erickson and the Arizona State Sun Devils arrive, and this will be a game that the Beaver fans will be very fired up for.  In a very close game, we give the slight advantage to Oregon State, and a win over Arizona State improves the OSU record to 5-3, and more importantly they still only one loss in the Pac-10.  Oregon State travels to Pasadena in week 9 to play UCLA, and we see the Bruins struggling against the better teams in the Pac-10 in '08, and OSU should get a win in this spot.  After nine games, OSU is 6-3.  California visits Corvallis in week 10 and the Bears will be looking for payback after giving away a sure-tie, and maybe a win over the Beavers in 2007.  In another very good Pac-10 game, we see OSU beating Cal at home, which takes their record to 7-3.  Still with only one loss in the Pac-10, and the tie breaker on their side with their early season win over USC, Oregon State travels to Tucson to play Arizona in week 11.  We see Mike Stoops and Arizona struggling in '08, but this is the exact type of game where Arizona has risen up in the past and beaten teams that were clearly better than them.  We only have to point to the Oregon game in Tucson in '07, and in a very close win for Oregon State, they slip out of Tucson with a win over Arizona.  After eleven games, OSU is 8-3, and still with only one loss in the Pac-10, are still holding the tie breaker over USC.  After the very close and tough win over Arizona, OSU must turn around and get ready for their just down the road rival in Oregon, which this year travels to Oregon State for what is truly a "Civil War."  Mike Bellotti might need this win over Oregon State very badly by the time late-November rolls around, but in a very good game, OSU gets a win over the Ducks.  A win over Oregon raises the OSU regular season record to 9-3, and a Pac-10 record of 8-1, which would bring the conference championship to Corvallis to the first time in a very long time. 

What would it mean for the Pac-10 if their champion had a record of 9-3 and a higher ranked USC team had a record of 11-1?  We don't know, but that is probably not something the Pac-10, or the BCS Boys for that matter want to contemplate anytime soon.

Can Oregon State really win the Pac-10 under Mike Riley?  Yes, they can, and they have the schedule in 2008 to make a Pac-10 conference title a reality.  Let's just hope they have enough beer in Corvallis if Oregon State does wrap-up the Pac-10 title with that win over Oregon.  That just may be a game, and a party that we will have to be at.....

2008 Coaches Hot Seat Prediction:    9-3

Will Mike Riley be back for the 2009 season?      YES