Riley to patrol behind bench for Falcons


Reminder Publications submitted photo

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

SPRINGFIELD -- The wait is finally over.

Nearly two months after putting the first piece of its organization's coaching puzzle in place, the Columbus Blue Jackets found the right fit for one of its final pieces, hiring Rob Riley to be the head coach of the Springfield Falcons.

Columbus performed a complete overhaul of its organization, dismissing its coaches at both the National Hockey League (NHL) and American Hockey League (AHL) levels and changing affiliations from Syracuse to Springfield at the end of last season.

In early June, Columbus hired former Portland Pirates (AHL) head coach Scott Arniel to coach the NHL team and has slowly been filling in the rest of the coaching positions. Now that Riley has been hired to lead the team in Springfield, only an assistant coach position in Springfield remains.
Rob Riley, who coached at Army for 18 seasons, has more than 300 collegiate coaching wins and has spent the last four years as a scout for the Falcons' parent club, the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"It's been a process and I think everything that Columbus has done has been very methodical and well-thought out," Springfield Falcons President and General Manager Bruce Landon said. "There certainly wasn't a shortage of candidates and I'm pretty excited about the direction they decided to go."

"I had the opportunity to interview and meet with Rob Riley myself and came away very impressed. I think it's a great choice," he added.

Riley has spent the last four seasons as a regional scout in the Northeast for the Blue Jackets and said he has been impressed over the last four years with the direction the organization has been going in from a personnel standpoint.

"That was really a major reason [for applying for the job in Spring-field]," Riley said. "I've gotten a chance to observe and learn about the profes-sional game and right now there's a lot of excitement and buzz about the Blue Jackets and I hope we can bring some of that buzz to Springfield with the talent in the organization."

Riley last coached in 2004 with the U.S. Military Academy. Over 18 seasons with Army, he compiled a 257-288-33 record in the Division I as an independent team as well as in the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), College Hockey Association (CHA) Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and finally the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA), which includes American International College.

Riley also has 49 NCAA Division III wins, giving him 306 career victories as a head coach. In 1988, he led Babson to the Division III National Championship, becoming the youngest coach in the division to do so.

He and his father, Jack, whom he served as an assistant coach at Army, are the all-time winningest father-son coaching combination in the history of college hockey with 848 combined wins.

Riley played collegiate hockey at Boston College. The center/left winger was captain of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Tournament champion 1977-78 Eagles that went to the NCAA National Championship game, which they lost to Boston University. He picked up 77 points 30 goals, 47 assists in 114 games over four years for the Eagles.

Landon said one of the major concerns he raised when speaking with the Blue Jackets front office was making sure the coach at the minor league level was someone who can not only develop young talent, but be able to relate to and work with the veteran players that may be on the roster.

"One of the reasons Scott Howson, the general manager of Columbus, asked me to meet with Rob is because I brought that concern up to Scott," Landon said. "I asked Rob those questions about dealing with the older hockey players and the guys that are being sent down who think they should be in the National Hockey League, as opposed to the collegiate players who are more for getting an education and playing a little hockey. He had all the right answers."

Despite all of his coaching experience being with younger players, Riley does not foresee having any difficulty coaching more experienced athletes.

"I have had a lot of worldly experience, not only just in terms of hockey, in dealing with people of varying ages and backgrounds," Riley said. "You have to treat people with respect. If you treat people with respect, they will reciprocate that respect."

Riley will spend this week in Columbus with the front office, Arniel and the rest of the coaching staff to discuss the ins-and-outs of the organization. While he admits he isn't familiar with all of the players, he has a good sense of the organization's strengths and thinks the Falcons will be able to play the same up-tempo style that Arniel will use in Columbus.

"From what I know, I think we do, even though I don't know all the players. I'll have a pretty good idea after [this week]," Riley said. "I like what I see. I think we're going to be good in goal and strong up the middle. I think there's a good mix of young players and veterans and a pretty good top-six on the blue line. I'm excited about this team."

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