Report: WSU coach David Riley to return for third season with Cougars

PULLMAN – Coach David Riley will be back for a third season with Washington State men’s basketball.

According to a Monday report from John Canzano, Riley is expected to return to the Cougars, whose season came to an end Friday with a loss to Portland in the second round of the WCC Tournament.

Under Riley’s watch, the Cougars have compiled an overall record of 31-34 and 15-21 in the WCC, which the program has now played its second and final season as affiliate members of. Next season will be the first of the rebuilt Pac-12.

Riley, who last spring signed a one-year contract extension through the 2030-31 season, will lead the Cougars into that new era. In his debut season at WSU, his team started 13-3 before finishing 19-15 overall. This year, the Cougars finished under .500 for the first time since the 2018-19 season, the final campaign under former coach Ernie Kent.

Riley earned $600,000 in his first season in Pullman. His salary for this season increased to $650,000, where it will stay for his third year at WSU.

Riley’s Cougars had an uneven season this winter. Washington State started 3-8, which was the program’s worst 11-game start since the 1964-65 season, when the Cougs were competing in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (it later became the Pac-10/Pac-12). WSU went on to generate a few promising stretches, including two three-game winning streaks, but the team struggled mightily away from Pullman, earning only one true road win all season.

Can the Cougars improve next season? That much may hinge on how much of their roster they can retain, which Riley has indicated can directly correlate to on-court success. The spring transfer portal window for college basketball is set to open April 7-21.