 McKay in 2024 | |
| Current position | |
|---|---|
| Title | Head coach |
| Team | Liberty |
| Conference | C-USA |
| Record | 272–134 (.670) |
| Biographical details | |
| Born | (1965-04-22)April 22, 1965 (age 60) Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| 1983–1987 | Seattle Pacific |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1988–1989 | Washington (asst.) |
| 1989–1990 | Queens (asst.) |
| 1990–1991 | Seattle Pacific (asst.) |
| 1991–1993 | Bradley (asst.) |
| 1993–1995 | Washington (asst.) |
| 1996–1998 | Portland State |
| 1998–2000 | Colorado State |
| 2000–2002 | Oregon State |
| 2002–2007 | New Mexico |
| 2007–2009 | Liberty |
| 2009–2015 | Virginia (assoc. HC) |
| 2015–present | Liberty |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 437–292 (.599) |
| Tournaments | 1–4 (NCAA Division I) 3–2 (NIT) 5–3 (CIT) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| |
| Awards | |
| |
Ritchie Lawrence McKay (born April 22, 1965) is an Americanbasketball coach who is in his second stint as the head coach of theLiberty Flames ofLiberty University. McKay for the previous six seasons had been the associate head coach toTony Bennett for theVirginia Cavaliers at theUniversity of Virginia. He had previously been the head coach ofNew Mexico,Oregon State,Colorado State, andPortland State.
On April 3, 2009, McKay was hand-selected by Bennett and lured from his head coaching position at Liberty to become associate head coach at Virginia.[1] On April 1, 2015, he returned as head coach of the Liberty Flames.[2] McKay holds the Liberty school record for single-season wins, with his team attaining a record of 30–4 (as of March 9, 2020) in the 2019–20 season after winning theASUN Conference regular season and tournament championships.
McKay got his first head coaching job withPortland 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 atColorado State. He stayed two seasons there before heading toOregon 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 theNCAA tournament. That successful season helped launch forwardDanny Granger to anNBA 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 toBig South Conference semifinals in back-to-back years. His second-year, with the help ofSeth Curry, McKay led the LU to a Division I school-record 23 wins[3] and a bid to the inauguralCollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.[4] After the season ended, Curry transferred toDuke University, and McKay's longtime friendTony Bennett was hired as head coach of theVirginia 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 toLiberty University as head coach.[2]
En route to a school-record 28 wins, McKay's Flames defeated the storiedUCLA Bruins ontheir home court inLos Angeles by 15 points, prompting the immediate firing of UCLA head coachSteve Alford in December 2018, before thePac-12 Conference season even began.[5] Ironically, it was Alford who had replaced McKay at New Mexico after his firing there nearly 12 years earlier. The following year, he was the 2019 recipient of theJim Phelan Award.[6]
McKay graduated fromWestwood High School, and played college basketball atSeattle Pacific University, where he set the single-season and career record for steals, and he was third in career assists. McKay has a wife, Julie, daughter, Ellie, and sons Luke and Gabriel.[7]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portland State Vikings(Big Sky Conference)(1996–1998) | |||||||||
| 1996–97 | Portland State | 9–17 | 6–10 | 7th | |||||
| 1997–98 | Portland State | 15–12 | 10–6 | T–3rd | |||||
| Portland State: | 24–29 (.453) | 16–16 (.500) | |||||||
| Colorado State Rams(Western Athletic Conference)(1998–1999) | |||||||||
| 1998–99 | Colorado State | 19–11 | 7–7 | T–4th (Mountain) | NIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| Colorado State Rams(Mountain West Conference)(1999–2000) | |||||||||
| 1999–00 | Colorado State | 18–12 | 8–6 | T–4th | |||||
| Colorado State: | 37–23 (.617) | 15–13 (.536) | |||||||
| Oregon State Beavers(Pacific-10 Conference)(2000–2002) | |||||||||
| 2000–01 | Oregon State | 10–20 | 4–14 | T–9th | |||||
| 2001–02 | Oregon State | 12–17 | 4–14 | 9th | |||||
| Oregon State: | 22–37 (.373) | 8–28 (.222) | |||||||
| New Mexico Lobos(Mountain West Conference)(2002–2007) | |||||||||
| 2002–03 | New Mexico | 10–18 | 4–10 | 7th | |||||
| 2003–04 | New Mexico | 14–14 | 5–9 | T–5th | |||||
| 2004–05 | New Mexico | 26–7 | 10–4 | 2nd | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 2005–06 | New Mexico | 17–13 | 8–8 | 5th | |||||
| 2006–07 | New Mexico | 15–17 | 4–12 | T–8th | |||||
| New Mexico: | 82–69 (.543) | 31–43 (.419) | |||||||
| Liberty Flames(Big South Conference)(2007–2009) | |||||||||
| 2007–08 | Liberty | 16–16 | 7–7 | 4th | |||||
| 2008–09 | Liberty | 23–12 | 12–6 | 3rd | CIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| Liberty Flames(Big South Conference)(2015–2018) | |||||||||
| 2015–16 | Liberty | 13–19 | 10–8 | T–5th | |||||
| 2016–17 | Liberty | 21–14 | 14–4 | 3rd | CIT Quarterfinals | ||||
| 2017–18 | Liberty | 22–15 | 9–9 | T–5th | CIT Semifinals | ||||
| Liberty Flames(ASUN Conference)(2018–2023) | |||||||||
| 2018–19 | Liberty | 29–7 | 14–2 | T–1st | NCAA Division I Round of 32 | ||||
| 2019–20 | Liberty | 30–4 | 13–3 | T–1st | NCAA Canceled* | ||||
| 2020–21 | Liberty | 23–6 | 11–2 | 1st | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| 2021–22 | Liberty | 22–11 | 12–4 | 1st(East) | |||||
| 2022–23 | Liberty | 27–9 | 15–3 | T–1st | NIT Second Round | ||||
| Liberty Flames(Conference USA)(2023–present) | |||||||||
| 2023–24 | Liberty | 18–14 | 7–9 | T–4th | |||||
| 2024–25 | Liberty | 28–7 | 13–5 | 1st | NCAA Division I Round of 64 | ||||
| Liberty: | 272–134 (.670) | 137–62 (.688) | |||||||
| Total: | 437–292 (.599) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
*The2020 NCAA tournament was canceled due to concerns over theCOVID-19 pandemic.