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If ETSU Doesn’t Learn From Their History, They Are Doomed To Repeat It
Many mistakes made by ETSU during the Don Riley era are being repeated in this one.
For whatever reason, it seems ETSU doesn’t have a real connection with its sports history.
Maybe it’s because it isn’t that glorious. No Buccaneers team has ever won a national championship, and frankly, outside of the last 30 odd years of men’s basketball, much of ETSU sports history is losing history.
So maybe it wasn’t that much of a surprise that the passing of Don Riley wasn’t felt more with the Bucs fan base. After all, he hadn’t coached in 30 years, and his tenure was not successful.
But his tenure should be remembered, because many of the reasons for the failures of ETSU football during his time as head coach (1988–91) have been duplicated today, and it’s caused the demise of the football and basketball programs.
Riley came to ETSU at the nadir of their athletic history. He succeeded Mike Ayers, who resigned because he did not believe ETSU President Ron Beller was committed to having a winning football program.
Beller then proved Ayers correct by taking six weeks to hire Riley.
Riley was hired nine days before national signing day. He’d been coaching at UCLA for the previous 12…
