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Liberty Hires Ritchie McKay
April 26, 2007
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty University Director of Athletics Jeff
Barber announced today at a press conference held in the Grand
Lobby of the Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center that Ritchie
McKay has been named the seventh head men’s basketball coach
in program history.
This will be McKay’s fifth head coaching stint and his first
east of the Mississippi after stops in the Big Sky, Mountain
West, Pac-10 and WAC Conferences.
“We are extremely fortunate to have a coach like Ritchie McKay
join the Liberty University family,” stated Barber. “He brings
with him a wealth of experience that will allow our basketball
program to move to the highest level. Not only is he an
outstanding coach, but even more, he is a man of superior
character who will build our program with class and
integrity.”
McKay, 41, comes to Liberty from New Mexico where he spent
five seasons at the helm of the Lobos’ basketball program
(2003-07), highlighted by a Mountain West Conference (MWC)
championship in 2005. With a 26-7 record, the conference
championship earned New Mexico its first NCAA Tournament
appearance in six years and the program’s first conference
title since 1996.
Overall at New Mexico, McKay sported an 82-69 coaching record
over five seasons, including the 2005 campaign where the
team’s 26 victories were the second highest in program
history.
In 2006, New Mexico’s Mark Walters earned first team
all-conference honors under McKay’s tutelage, marking the
first time in Mountain West Conference history an institution
had a first-team honoree for five-straight years.
Of the 11 Lobos who concluded their collegiate eligibility at
New Mexico during McKay’s tenure, eight received their
diplomas. The other three, Danny Granger, Javin Tindall and
Ruben Douglas, are currently playing professional basketball
at some level. Granger was a third-team All-American and MVP
of the Mountain West Tournament, leading to the Indiana Pacers
selecting him as the 17th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft.
"I can't tell you how privileged and excited I am to join the
Liberty family," stated McKay. "My wife, Julie, and I were
blown away by the leadership and atmosphere we experienced
during our time in Lynchburg. I feel like it is a perfect fit
for me not only to compete for championships but to be a part
of a university mission that I so strongly believe in."
In 10 years as a head coach, McKay has posted a 165-158 career
coaching record, including two-year stints each at Portland
State (1997-98), Colorado State (1999-00) and Oregon State
(2001-02).
McKay posted a 37-23 record (.627) at Colorado State, which
included a 1999 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) berth.
The Rams defeated Mississippi State and in-state rival
Colorado at the event, before losing to eventual NIT
Tournament champion California.
The 1999-2000 season featured the first year of play for CSU
in the Mountain West Conference, and the Rams logged an 18-12
record and a fourth-place conference finish.
A pair of victories over nationally-ranked opponents - the
first time the program had accomplished the feat at Colorado
State in a decade - and capturing the title at the second
annual Pearl Harbor Classic in Hawaii were some of the
highlights during the season. College Hoops Insider magazine
noticed the success of the 2000 Rams and tabbed McKay as its
MWC Coach of the Year.
Before arriving on the Colorado State campus, McKay began his
head coaching career when he was named the head coach at
Portland State. McKay started at Portland State in 1995,
helping revive a program which had been dormant for 15 years.
McKay led the program to nine victories in the school's first
season of competition (1996-97) since the early 1980s.
After the initial season at Portland State, McKay was named
one of six finalists for the Clair Bee Award, given annually
to the coach with the most influence and innovation in the
game of basketball. Two other finalists for the honor that
year were Dean Smith of North Carolina and Mike Krzyzewski of
Duke. The 1997-98 Portland State team followed with a 15-12
mark and a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference.
McKay brings a vast array of college coaching experience to
Liberty as he started his basketball coaching career in 1988
as a graduate assistant at the University of Washington.
McKay followed his start with the Huskies with two years as an
assistant at Queens College in North Carolina (1989-90), where
he worked for former Colorado State head coach Dale Layer,
Seattle Pacific (1990-91), Bradley (1991-93) and back to
Washington (1993-95). McKay also served as an assistant under
Jim Molinari at the 1997 World University Games in Italy,
where the USA captured the gold medal.
McKay earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in athletic
administration from Seattle Pacific in 1987. A stellar player
for the Falcons, McKay left the program as the school's
single-season and career record holder for steals, and he was
third in career assists. He still holds the school record with
10 steals in a 1987 game against Pacific Lutheran.
McKay is married to the former Julie Summers. The couple has
two sons, Luke (9) and Gabriel (7) and a daughter, Ellie (12). |
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