How Kathy Riley forged Longwood University’s softball powerhouse

By Chris Cook

Longwood Magazine

It’s a frigid late afternoon in January, and Longwood University’s campus sits peaceful and quiet, covered in six inches of snow that has canceled the first day of classes.

Quiet, but not silent. Head Coach Kathy Riley didn’t build a softball dynasty — and Longwood’s most successful athletics program — by taking snow days.

Opening day is a month away, and the warm spring afternoons when her players will fight for a fourth-straight Big South title — and perhaps another giant-killing run on the national stage of the NCAA Tournament — more distant still. But, to Riley’s mind, it’s at times like this when titles are won. As her players shed their snow boots for sneakers and push through warm ups and drills, she keeps time with a litany of one-liners that underscore her philosophy as a coach and educator.

“We don’t walk anywhere; we jog,” she says between reps.

“Everything we do, we do better than everybody else.”

“We do everything with exceptional form and elite speed. Everything.”

And the kicker, a statement that could just as well serve as a motto for the program and a lifelong lesson for her players: “We don’t accept anything other than your best.”

As Riley prepared for her 21st season as head coach of a Lancers’ softball program that has dominated the Big South, packs the home stands every spring and has brought Longwood national acclaim, her approach has proven its worth.

She is direct and firm, but never condescending. Practice, she says, should be constructive.

For this particular practice, the Lancers don’t touch a bat or ball for the first hour. Instead, they run, jump, shuffle and stretch. Riley floats between lines during drills, offering constant critique. No matter the activity, Riley’s message is the same: It’s about the little things. Detail. Form. Speed. Effort. Even for tasks as simple as lining up, she demands attention to detail.

“In our program, we have a starting line and a finish line. You start behind the line. Not on the line, not in front of the line. You finish past the finish line, not in front of it. This is to get you mentally disciplined. We don’t cut corners. We do it right, in everything we do,” Riley says.

“I’m trying to teach you how to think on your feet,” she adds. “Every game has an adjustment you have to make. You have to make it. Not your coach.”

As she later explains to the group, that’s true in life as well.

A LIFETIME OF WINNING

Riley’s winning habits go way back. A Dayton, Ohio, native, she was a dominant college athlete. On the softball field, she led her alma mater East Carolina University to a No. 1 national ranking, was 1982 Broderick Cup National Player of the Year and a first-team All-America selection. Her teams won five national championships during summer league softball, and she won a gold medal at the 1980 Olympic Sports Festival.

On the basketball court, she scored more than 1,800 points as a collegian, leading East Carolina to a top-20 ranking and the NCAA Tournament. She earned a tryout for the 1978 Pan American Games and was a finalist for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Women’s Basketball Team. In 1983-84, she played professionally with the Houston Shamrocks of the Women’s American Basketball Association (WABA).

Dr. Tim Pierson, Longwood’s vice president for student affairs, remembers years ago getting to know Riley — and her competitive spirit — when he played on an intramural basketball team with her and several other Longwood faculty and coaches.

“Nobody played harder than Kathy,” Pierson said. “There was no such thing as an easy basket down the lane when Kathy was guarding. We won the championship that year, and the way she played is no different than what you see her try to get out of her team.”

Riley came to Longwood in 1997 after a coaching stint at Mount Olive College in North Carolina. She shepherded the Lancer softball program through the transition from Division II to Division I, a process that began in 2002. At the time, it was understood success would have to come in steps. The first was competing with the established programs in the Big South. With time and steady progress, Longwood aimed to compete for Big South championships — and have the opportunity, at least, to compete with established Division I powerhouses.

While every sport in Longwood’s burgeoning athletics program has taken some of those steps, none has made the leap so powerfully, and consistently, as Riley’s.

Under Riley, Longwood softball has never had a losing season. Her teams have won four of the past five Big South Championships, and — though perennially billed as underdogs — they have extended their success nationally. In its past three NCAA Regionals, Longwood has eliminated Virginia Tech (2015), the University of North Carolina and Princeton University (both in 2016) and, in 2017, the Lancers took down Ohio State University and University of South Carolina Upstate in the postseason.

Last year’s Lancers weren’t the most talented of Riley’s teams but may have been her most impressive coaching success. Certainly they enjoyed one of the hottest stretches in program history during last year’s postseason. It started on May 13, when Longwood took two of three from rival Liberty University — a program that has thrown tremendous resources into its athletics program — in the Big South Tournament Championship before packed crowds on Longwood’s home field in Farmville. One week later, in the NCAA Tournament, the Lancers upset University of South Carolina Upstate and then stunned the Big Ten’s Ohio State to advance to the regional championship, earning a national television appearance on ESPNU — their second nationally televised game of the season.

99 PERCENT PERSPIRATION

So how has Riley turned Longwood from underdog to giant killer?
“Every coach has to recruit talent,” Riley said. “But the thing that has been really important to us is to make sure the kid coming in has a value system that is fairly close to what we believe in. It’s really difficult to bring somebody into a hardworking program who’s lazy. If their parents have taught them along the way what they need to do to be hardworking, then you have a chance to help them achieve their dreams.”

That recruiting philosophy has produced more All-Big South selections than any other team since Longwood joined the conference for the 2013 season. Big names like the conference’s all-time home run leader and All-American Megan Baltzell and two-time Big South Pitcher of the Year Elizabeth “Biz” McCarthy highlight that list.
But what’s really earned Riley and her program national attention is how impressively the players she’s coached have outperformed their natural abilities.

“If you asked these big programs how many of our kids they would want on their rosters in terms of mental discipline, how they approach the game, their toughness and the way they handle themselves as people, then I’d say you’d get a lot of positive responses,” Riley said. “I think that’s where we’re closing the gap. We are physically fit, we trust each other, and we are mentally tough.”

Therein lies the best-kept secret to Longwood’s success under Riley: There is no secret at all. There is no secret source for prized recruits. There is no unhittable pitch sequence Riley or Assistant Coach Kayla Miller calls from the dugout. There’s no lightning-infused wonder-bat hiding on the rack.

Longwood simply outworks every team it plays — a process that starts well before game day.

“Our hard work is definitely what carries us through those obstacles,” said All-Big South outfielder Jordan Clark, a junior sociology major from Manchester. “We’re not just going to lie down and let someone roll right over us. We’re going to stand up, try our best and be aggressive. Coach doesn’t let us give up in practice, so we’re not going to give up in games.”

By the time they graduate, Longwood softball players like Clark are tough enough for anything.

LIFE LESSONS

During her 25 years as a college coach, Riley has stayed remarkably consistent in her approach and the expectations she lays out for her athletes — and in the role she proudly plays in helping to advance Longwood’s mission of shaping citizen leaders for their lives and careers.

The shared experiences of playing for Riley transcend decades. The early mornings, the knee-buckling conditioning sessions and the demand for laserlike focus are all experiences about which Riley’s alumnae can commiserate and, simultaneously, appreciate.

“I wondered for four years why we woke up at the crack of dawn to do things that we had all day to do,” said McCarthy, who played a pivotal role in Longwood’s three Big South titles under Riley from 2014-17.

“Now I get it,” McCarthy said. “I have a full-time job, and I have to wake up early. It’s not like I’m running sprints every day, but I’m certainly putting 100 percent of my effort and doing the best that I can at my job every day. It’s the little things that come down to holding myself accountable.”

A 2017 graduate, McCarthy is not even a full year into her life after college, but her four years under Riley made her transition to the “real world” a smooth one. A kinesiology major, she is now a physical therapy technician who also teaches softball lessons on the side. By comparison, the job she has now is a fraction as demanding as the one she had as a Longwood softball player.

“You don’t realize that teachers and coaches are giving you lessons that you’ll need your entire life — like being on time, being early, putting on a good face no matter how you feel, and not making excuses,” McCarthy said. “Coach always demanded 100 percent in everything we did, and, after four years, it stuck.”

Riley has carefully shaped her methods over the years precisely because they translate not just to success on the softball field, but also to preparation for success beyond it.

“My job at the end of the day is to teach them how to win and to be winners and understand success, in all areas,” she said.

SOMETHING TO SAY

Riley can get loud, but she is not a drill sergeant. She knows how to cut loose with her players and, most importantly, when. She jokes. She laughs.

But when Riley speaks, her players listen. Others do, too.

“There are people who, when they speak, everybody stops talking,” said Longwood Director of Athletics Troy Austin. “For a lot of people at Longwood, Kathy is that person. She has tremendous credibility because of the success she’s had, but beyond that, Kathy is just a gifted person in general. Her insight, her ability to motivate people and her ability to assess a situation and deliver a clear-cut solution are second to none.”

Success lends itself to credibility. Her 21 years in Farmville make Riley one of the three longest-tenured coaches at Longwood, trailing only 24th-year Women’s Soccer Head Coach Todd Dyer, a ’93 Longwood graduate, and matching Men’s Golf Head Coach Kevin Fillman, who started the same year.

Increasingly, she’s emerged as a statesperson of Longwood athletics, a sage whom Longwood’s coaches, and even faculty and administrators, seek out for advice and perspective on the shared challenges of working with, shaping, inspiring and teaching each new generation of student-athletes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as honest or straightforward as Kathy,” Pierson said. “She really models what you want out of someone on your team. She’s going to bring it, and she’s not going to leave anything at home. I’ve always had the highest respect for her.”

Now, after more than two decades focused almost exclusively on her own team, Riley is shifting to a new role that — along with her continued coaching duties — will bring her wisdom to bear on helping Longwood’s athletics department as a whole.

Austin recently appointed Riley as special advisor, a role that will entail serving as a liaison between her fellow coaches and the athletics department leadership, helping build a culture of success. She’ll also assist with fundraising and developing new relationships for the athletics program. Lastly, she’ll advise Austin and others in the department on leadership matters and on the student-athlete experience.

“That trust and good communication, the ability to be worthwhile and successful in your job — all of those things are factors you’re after any time you have a team,” Riley said. “I’m just trying to be a little more of a conduit and try to help make some of those things happen.”

Part of the motivation is to give back, but Riley also wants to keep learning herself. For all her consistency, Riley notes she is still evolving as a coach. With each new season, the team is different. The game, and strategies, evolve. Working in a different role on the athletics department team of her fellow coaches and educators will help her evolve too.

“I accepted those responsibilities simply because I had a desire to help make things better,” she said. “How much I can help is based on the relationship that I continue to develop with the administration, especially if I better understand the administration’s point of view. Then I, as a coach, can get more balance and get better at what I do.”

Seeing what an even-better Kathy Riley might achieve as a coach will no doubt keep the Lancer Nation on the edge of their seats.