Ritchie McKay
Ritchie Lawrence McKay (born April 22, 1965) is an American basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Liberty University. McKay for the last 6 seasons had been the associate head coach at University of Virginia. He has previously been the head coach of the University of New Mexico, Oregon State, Colorado State, and Portland State.
Life and sports
McKay got his first head coaching job with Portland State. After a poor first year, McKay led the team to a third-place conference finish in his second season. He used that success as a springboard to his next coaching job, this time at Colorado State. He stayed two seasons there before heading to Oregon State, and then another two at Oregon State before accepting the head coaching position at New Mexico. While there, he experienced mixed success. In 2005, his team won the Mountain West Tournament and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. That successful season helped launch forward Danny Granger to an NBA career. Still, McKay couldn't turn New Mexico into a consistent program, and in February 2007, he was fired.
McKay then took a job at Liberty University, where he took the Flames to Big South semifinals in back-to-back years. His second-year, with the help of Seth Curry, McKay led the LU to a Division I school-record 23 wins[1] and a bid to the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.[2] After the season ended, Curry transferred to Duke University, and McKay's longtime friend Tony Bennett was hired as head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers. Bennett then asked McKay to join his staff as his associate head coach, and McKay accepted. On April 1, 2015, McKay was selected to return to Liberty University as head coach.[3]
Personal life
High school: Westwood High, Mesa, Ariz.
College: Seattle Pacific
Family: Wife, Julie; daughter, Ellie; sons, Gabriel and Luke
Head coaching record
Season |
Team |
Overall |
Conference |
Standing |
Postseason
|
Portland State (Big Sky Conference) (1996β1998)
|
1996β97 |
Portland State |
9β17 | 6β10 | 7th |
|
1997β98 |
Portland State |
15β12 | 10β6 | Tβ3rd |
|
Portland State: |
24β29 (.453) | 16β16 (.500) |
|
Colorado State (Western Athletic Conference) (1998β1999)
|
1998β99 |
Colorado State |
19β11 | 7β7 | Tβ4th (Mountain) | NIT Quarterfinals
|
Colorado State (Mountain West Conference) (1999β2000)
|
1999β00 |
Colorado State |
18β12 | 8β6 | Tβ4th |
|
Colorado State: |
37β23 (.617) | 15β13 (.536) |
|
Oregon State (Pacific-10 Conference) (2000β2002)
|
2000β01 |
Oregon State |
10β20 | 4β14 | Tβ9th |
|
2001β02 |
Oregon State |
12β17 | 4β14 | 9th |
|
Oregon State: |
22β37 (.373) | 8β28 (.222) |
|
New Mexico (Mountain West Conference) (2002β2007)
|
2002β03 |
New Mexico |
10β18 | 4β10 | 7th |
|
2003β04 |
New Mexico |
14β14 | 5β9 | Tβ5th |
|
2004β05 |
New Mexico |
26β7 | 10β4 | 2nd | NCAA 1st Round
|
2005β06 |
New Mexico |
17β13 | 8β8 | 5th |
|
2006β07 |
New Mexico |
15β17 | 4β12 | Tβ8th |
|
New Mexico: |
82β69 (.543) | 31β43 (.419) |
|
Liberty (Big South Conference) (2007β2009)
|
2007β08 |
Liberty |
16β16 | 7β7 | 4th |
|
2008β09 |
Liberty |
23β12 | 12β6 | 3rd | CIT Quarterfinals
|
Liberty (Big South Conference) (2015βPresent)
|
2015β16 |
Liberty |
| | |
|
Liberty: |
39β28 (.582) | 19β13 (.594) |
|
Total: | 204β186 (.523) | |
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion |
- β
- β CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament
- β Release on 4/1/15: McKay Returns to Liberty as Flames Men's Head Basketball Coach
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Pound sign (#) denotes interim head coach.
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