Matthew Riley returns for his second season as volunteer assistant coach with the Bears basketball program. Prior to coming to Summit, he spent three seasons at East Central Community College.
Riley — a Jackson, MS native — is a 2018 graduate of Murrah High School. After completing his prep career, he joined the coaching staff at East Central as a student assistant from 2018-2020 while completing his associate's degree For the 2020-21 season he was promoted to an assistant coach at ECCC, beoming the youngest commiunity college coach in the country.
Riley is currently in his senior year of college pursuing his bachelor's degree in African American Studies at Arizona State University.
In his first collegiate coaching year, Riley was very influential in the signing of two dandy dozen prospects: Curtis Keyes, and Ty Daniels.
While at East Central, Riley was pivotal in the development of many players that went on to continue to play collegiate basketball at the four-year level including Kareem Thompson (Oral Roberts), Roti Ware (Stephen F. Austin), Devin Carter (Mississippi College) and Tate Ryder (Southern Mississippi).
In 2021, he founded Riley Sports Academy, which focused on player development of the some of the top prep players in Mississippi including: Joseph Dupree (Jackson State University), Jonathan Lucas (McNeese State University), Devin Carter (Alcorn State University), Garrison Wade (Dartmouth University) and Cameron Woodall (Grambling)
In addition to his academy, Riley went on to create an AAU program with some of the best 16-year-olds in the state.
Riley comes from a family with a great basketball pedigree. He is the son of Matthew Lee Riley, who played basketball ECCC and Mississippi Valley State University. Matthew's mother, Marie Riley played at Delta State University. Matthew's Uncle, Luther Riley, also played at Mississippi Valley and went on to be a very successful coach, winning seven high school state championships at Provine High School and Columbus High School. He was also a former Division I head coach at Alcorn State.
