After three seasons coaching at Menomonee Falls, Freddie Riley is returning to the Milwaukee City Conference.
The former two-time conference coach of the year (2013, 2018) who led Milwaukee Washington boys basketball to four City Conference titles (2013, 2017, 2018, 2019), three WIAA state tournament appearances (2017, 2018, 2019) and a pair of Division 2 state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019 was hired by Milwaukee Vincent.
“This is an awesome opportunity that Vincent has presented me with,” Riley said. “We all know that Vincent has had some challenges in the past, but one thing I’m well versed in understanding is the tradition that was created and built at Vincent.”
The new role is a full circle one for Riley, whose coaching career began with Vincent’s girls program in the early 2000s. He recalls witnessing the exploits of 2002 Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Mr. Basketball Award winner Greg Brown, as well as future NBA players Carl and Marcus Landry during that early period of his life in coaching.
“I got a chance to just really learn the culture and the expectation and tradition that was built out in the mid-90s going into the 2000s,” Riley said.
Bringing Vincent back to the days of competing for City Conference titles and making deep WIAA postseason runs is a uniquely personal mission for Riley, who was a 1992 Milwaukee Hamilton graduate who played under longtime Wildcats coach Jim Jones.
“People seem to think that the City [Conference] is down, but Juneau has proven that it really is not,” Riley said. “Everybody thought the MCC was going to take a hit from the COVID time when there wasn’t a [2020-21] season. They thought the MCC was going to take years to rebuild because a lot of families were enrolling their kids to play in the suburbs because the City [Conference] didn’t have a basketball season at the time.”
The breakthrough 2025-26 campaign leading to Juneau’s first program title showed Riley the desire to compete with and beat the best in the state is very much alive in the City Conference.
“[City] kids are very competitive, they work hard, they are eager to be led, and I think that’s the thing that excites me, that there’s kids that want to be guided, want to be taught,” Riley said. “That’s what inspires me the most of looking forward to coming back into the City and wanting to work.”
The move back to a City Conference program after three years in Menomonee Falls is a return to lifelong roots for Riley. In Falls, he had taken over a program a year removed from a 2022 WIAA D1 state tournament appearance featuring a star-studded senior class led by Seth Trimble. That following season before Riley’s arrival had been a trying one for a Phoenix team that managed just a single win. Riley himself was at a similar crossroads in his coaching career, having had his contract left unrenewed by Washington after 11 seasons in 2023.
“I was trying to decide when I left Washington if I was going to even coach again,” Riley said.
The fire for the job ultimately still burned, however, and with some encouragement from his wife, Riley applied for the Menomonee Falls opening. Upon his hiring later that summer, Riley found new benefits and challenges working outside of the City Conference.
“It’s totally different from the city where they have more resources available for student-athletes, but after working in both the city and the suburbs, both will always have their challenges,” Riley said.
The years leading Menomonee Falls from a 9-15 record in 2023-24 to 13-12 a year later and a WIAA postseason win this past season to cap a 15-11 record added to the seasoning Riley’s coaching philosophy has undergone over his career. From his time as an assistant to his years leading programs himself, he has gained appreciation for the unique opportunity to impact young men’s lives regardless of circumstances.
“It’s pretty much the same,” Riley said of the different challenges of working with athletes at Washington and Menomonee Falls.
“Only thing that kids in the city might experience versus the suburban experience is the challenging dynamics of balancing the pressure that comes from their community.”
Mentoring on and off the court is a passion of Riley’s. In addition to his day job as the dean of students at HOPE Christian School Fortis, he has participated in a pilot Black and Latino Male Achievement group program at Washington.
Sitting three wins shy of 200 on a career record of 197-124 as he enters his 15th year in coaching, Riley reflects on a growing legacy that transcends the win-loss column.
“I see the young men’s lives that have been positively impacted under the leadership of my coaching staff and administration. We have helped young men change their educational experience where they become believers in themselves and become assets in their community. Guys who’ve created opportunities to go on to college when so many people have written them off. We have been able to change their academic status and provide mentoring to young men where they were able to be successful in high school and graduate,” Riley said. “I’m prouder of that than some of the accomplishments we were able to have on the basketball court. This is a privileged position that I will never take for granted.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Longtime Milwaukee City Conference coach Freddie Riley hired by Vincent
Reporting by Zac Bellman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
