Bud Riley

Edward Jones "Bud" Riley Jr. (November 25, 1925 – August 4, 2012) was an American college football coach who served as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho and Oregon State University.

Riley also spent 14 seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), most notably as head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers from 1974 to 1977 and as a front office executive for the Calgary Stampeders from 1985 to 1987. His oldest son Mike Riley was the head coach at Oregon State and Nebraska. a community in the western part of the state. His father died when he was 12, and he quit high school at age 17 during World War II to join the U.S. Navy. Following the war, he returned to western Alabama and later enrolled at nearby East Mississippi Junior College in Scooba.

He played halfback for the Vandals in the Pacific Coast Conference from 1948 to 1950 under Howell. In the home opener against Oregon in 1948, Riley scored the Vandals' only touchdown in a loss in his first game at Neale Stadium. The 1948 Ducks featured Norm Van Brocklin and John McKay, and finished the regular season at as PCC co-champions. Riley also played for the Vandals' baseball team.

Early coaching years High school During his college summers and vacations, Riley had worked in the mines of the nearby Silver Valley at Wallace, and landed a job there with a mining company following graduation at age 26 in 1952. He was the head football coach at WHS for four seasons, starting in 1955, leading the Miners to a 23-14-1 record. He was also the head coach in basketball for two seasons, starting in the fall of 1957. Riley met his wife, Mary Shumaker from nearby Mullan, while working in Wallace; they were married in November 1951 and their first two sons were born there. His overall record with the LHS Bengals was with a final season of due to disciplinary actions. The Vandals posted their first winning record in a quarter century in 1963, and in 1964 they beat neighbor WSU for the first time in a decade and barely lost the week before at Rose Bowl-bound Oregon State 10–7 on a second half punt return. When Tommy Prothro left OSU for UCLA, Andros moved over to Oregon State and the Pac-8 in February 1965, later defensive coordinator, from 1965 to 1972. The best years were 1967 ("Giant Killers") and 1968, when the Beavers were nationally ranked.

CFL coach After eight seasons in Corvallis, Riley moved to the Canadian Football League (CFL) in 1973, as defensive coordinator of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he made significant improvements to a poorly rated defense. Riley was hired as the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1974; head coach Jim Spavital was fired after the Blue Bombers finished last in the Western Conference in 1973. The Bombers didn't make it out of the first round in Riley's three postseason appearances, and he was let go after the 1977 season. His next coaching job was as an assistant with the Toronto Argonauts. He replaced the fired Leo Cahill as head coach with seven games remaining, finishing with a 1-6 record.

He returned to Oregon State in 1979 as an assistant to Craig Fertig, but Fertig was fired by Andros midway through the season. Riley returned to the CFL in 1980, as the defensive backs coach for Saskatchewan. and was promoted to head coach for the 1982 season. He lasted only halfway into his second season before being replaced by director of player personnel Al Bruno.

Riley spent the 1984 season as defensive co-ordinator for the Edmonton Eskimos. He moved to the front office in 1985, serving as the Calgary Stampeders player personnel director for three seasons. He also served as interim coach for the remainder of the 1985 season after the firing of head coach Steve Buratto, (whom Riley had recruited to Idaho as a player).

He was inducted into the Idaho Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998.

Personal life Riley and his wife Mary (Shumaker)

Following his retirement in 1987, Riley and his wife had lived in rural Kaleden, British Columbia, south of Penticton. After a lengthy illness, he died in a Penticton hospital at age 86 in 2012 on 4 August.