Former NBA player takes over City of Life boys hoops squad

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor

Ron Riley has been a basketball coach at the youth and high school levels in St. Cloud for two decades.

He’ll continue on that path this fall as the new boys varsity basketball coach at City of Life Academy.

Riley recently accepted the job and is planning to build a competitive private school program.

“I’m not sure exactly what I have yet, I can’t tell you how much talent we’ll have, but what I can tell you is that every player we have can be a decent player,” he said.

Riley, 61, is a former NBA player with the Kansas City (now Sacramento) Kings and Houston Rockets, and a Pac-12 Hall of Fame selection.

The 6-9 center/forward is the all-time leading rebounder at the University of Southern California, where he played in the early 1970s against John Wooden’s legendary UCLA teams.

“I’ve played a little, but I’ll let others decide about that,” Riley said with a chuckle.

Riley is a recreation superintendent with the St. Cloud Parks and Recreation Department and currently is coaching two teams in the youth program.

Riley was the St. Cloud High girls basketball coach four years ago and was a boys varsity assistant coach before that.

“I’ve been around, I’ve got a lot of background in that area and I believe that I can use that experience to build a good program at City of Life,” Riley said. “I appreciate the opportunity and I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited about it.”

The Warriors have struggled over the past several seasons after putting strong teams on the floor under Coach Chris Bogen in the early 2000s when the school was known as Heartland Christian.

“They haven’t enjoyed a lot of success recently, but that’s O.K. That’s why I’m here, to see what we can do to turn this into a real solid program. I don’t see any reason why we can’t do that,” Riley said.

“The administration is committed to putting an excellent program together, the athletic program is expanding, and there are resources there to make it successful.”

The Warriors are in 2A District 6, along with Kissimmee Life Academy, which recently hired a new coach, former Poinciana assistant Mike Botkin.