Hayden Riley
American basketball player and coach
About Hayden Riley
Lived 1921 – 1995 (aged 73). Hayden Riley was an American baseball player, basketball coach and basketball player.
Loyd Hayden Riley (September 14, 1921 – April 24, 1995) was an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide for eight seasons during the 1960s, and the Tide's head baseball coach for ten seasons in the 1970s. Riley was also a recruiting coordinator for football at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant.
College and military Born and raised in Guin, Alabama, Riley was a four-sport athlete in high school and played football, basketball, and baseball at Howard College (now Samford University). One of his players at Coffee was Wimp Sanderson, a future assistant under Riley at Alabama and later the Tide's head coach. Riley was also the head football coach at CHS for three seasons, beginning in 1955. He moved to the University of Alabama in 1958 as a football assistant to Bear Bryant (also Alabama's athletic director) Hayden was one of the Best recruiters and evaluation of talent. He had an unbelievable talent of remembering anybody's name and from his stent in the Navy knew people all over the nation which helped in the recruiting and assistant basketball coach under Eugene Lambert. When Lambert left in 1960, Riley was promoted to head basketball coach. After eight seasons, Riley suffered his first losing season and resigned in 1968, and continued as an assistant athletic director. In 1970, he succeeded Joe Sewell as head baseball coach for ten seasons and stepped down for health reasons in 1979.
Riley served in the athletic department at Alabama until 1982, He suffered a stroke in 1987 and began using a wheelchair, and lived at the VA hospital in Tuscaloosa. Riley died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 73, and was buried in Tuscaloosa.
A city park in his hometown of Guin is named for him.
Personal Riley was married to the former Lauranne Kudrop of Greenville and they had three children, two sons and a daughter. Riley had five sisters and was the older brother of football coach Bud Riley (1925–2012), who was the father of Mike Riley, the former head football coach at Oregon State and Nebraska. Nephew Mike (b.1953) played football at Alabama as a reserve defensive back in the early 1970s while Hayden was the head baseball coach. was a running back in the Tide's wishbone offense from 1977 through 1980 and won two national championships. Ogilvie is the son of Riley's sister Peggy.
Career record Basketball
Baseball
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Important facts
People in Hayden Riley's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Hayden Riley's
Frequently asked questions
Who was Hayden Riley?
American basketball player and coach (1921–1995)
When was Hayden Riley born?
Hayden Riley was born on 14 September 1921 in Guin.
When did Hayden Riley die?
Hayden Riley died on 24 April 1995 in Tuscaloosa.
What was Hayden Riley's occupation?
Hayden Riley was a baseball player, basketball coach and basketball player.
What nationality was Hayden Riley?
Hayden Riley was American.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Hayden Riley. https://biography.guide/hayden-riley/
MLA: "Hayden Riley." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/hayden-riley/.
Chicago: "Hayden Riley." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/hayden-riley/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
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