Mike Riley, after seven years as the wildly successful Willow Glen baseball coach, has retired as coach, Riley confirmed Monday.
Riley's team won the 2013 Division II CCS title, defeating St. Ignatius 4-3 in 11 innings in a dramatic game at San Jose Municipal Stadium. His teams made at least the semifinals of CCS in three years, won 70 percent of their games (147-62) and captured three league titles during his seven-year tenure. The program also managed a 27-game winning streak.
"My kids are done now, but it's not just the kids," Riley said of his three ball-playing sons, John, Jimmy and Mikey. "I was the coach for seven years and working on the baseball field that whole time was tough on my ankles and knees and hips. I'm just tired more than anything. It's time."
Riley's loss as coach will be felt in the baseball community, Mitty coach Bill Hutton said.
"He's a good guy," Hutton said. "He was an educator/coach and so we spoke the same language. He built great pride in that Willow Glen program and was well-known in his enrollment area and was a popular guy. He taught parents and players what high school sports are supposed to be about other than just winning games."
Riley's sons were all on that 2013 title team. John, now in the San Francisco Giants' organization, hit a big home run off St. Ignatius' highly touted left-hander Matt Krook, in addition to eventually scoring the winning run and pitching two scoreless innings of relief. The Rams also pulled off a key triple play that involved John.
Ironically, Jimmy Riley became dehydrated during the game and had to go to the hospital, putting a bit of a damper on Mike Riley and coaching staff's post-game revelry. It was still a great day for Willow Glen baseball and the entire sports program.
"That was amazing," the elder Riley said of the upset. "In baseball the best team doesn't always win. There were two other seasons where we could have been CCS champs, but it just wasn't meant to be. ... The whole (CCS title win) was kind of surreal. That home run (by John) did kind of take my breath away."
Riley, 55, said he has many pictures of that S.I. game, including 5-6 of his Rams making the triple play that won't soon be forgotten.
"SI was a good team so it meant a lot and Krook is a good pitcher," Riley said.
Riley, a former Westmont High baseball and basketball player, spent the majority of his long career (he began in 1985) coaching basketball.
He was the basketball coach at Willow Glen for five years, then at De Anza College from 1995 through 2004 before returning to coach baseball at Willow Glen -- while all the time teaching at Willow Glen.
He said his two assistants with pro baseball backgrounds -- Ron Dunn and Steve Righetti -- helped immensely. Dunn played in the major leagues with the Chicago Cubs; Righetti, the brother of Giants' pitching coach and former big leaguer Dave Righetti, was a minor leaguer whose career ended prematurely due to injury.
"We sort of did things the pro way," Riley said. "My sons also received the fruit of (Dunn and Righetti's) baseball knowledge. I was just sort of the facilitator.
Riley, modest to a fault, emphasized the players were mostly responsible for the Rams' success.
The San Jose resident said he plans to teach for five more years and will spend time watching Jimmy play baseball at De Anza the next two years, Mikey working with the baseball team at San Jose State and John hopefully climbing the ladder as a catcher in the Giants' chain.
Willow Glen has not yet announced a replacement for Riley.
