Coach who teaches has morphed into teacher who coaches

Pat Riley was coaching in the Newton Community School District before he graduated from Grand View College.

He became a teacher to remain close to athletics after he was done playing baseball for the Vikings.

But over the course of more than two decades, the two roles he’s held the longest at Newton have morphed into one.

“Teaching has helped me be a better coach. And coaching has helped me be a better teacher,” Riley said. “I think I have melted the two together. I am a teacher at heart. I just teach a sport, too.”

Before taking a high school math position at Newton, Riley spent three years as a science teacher at his alma mater Colfax-Mingo.

He started coaching baseball at Newton in 1999 while playing on the Grand View baseball team.

Riley also was a student teacher at Newton in 2000 beore moving over to Colfax-Mingo full time in 2001. There was a chance he stayed at his alma mater for a long time, but his opportunities at Newton and the school’s desire to have him were too much to turn down.

“I feel a lot of loyalty to certain things. I feel loyal to my people. I felt a lot of love here,” Riley said.

After spending three years as a science teacher, Riley transitioned to high school math at Newton and has been in the same classroom for all of his years in the district.

“I went to college to be a math teacher, and it got real hard. And no one could help me,” Riley said. “So I switched my junior year and got endorsed in chemistry and physical science and got my coaching endorsement. Then went back and got an endorsement in math and earth science after I graduated.”

Math is a scary subject for a lot of students. Everyone knows the joke “I was told there would be no math.”

But Newton High School Principal Bill Peters said Riley breaks down that barrier. He also thinks young people go out for golf because of the long time coach.

“Pat is a foundational piece to NHS,” Peters said. “He is loved and respected by the students. He cares for the kids and gets to know them outside of math.

“As a coach, he’s highly successful and has a large group of kids trying golf who have never even played. They go out more because of the coach than the sport.”

Riley spent about 10 years on the Newton baseball coaching staff. He was Ryan Cooley’s assistant for one year before working under former Newton head coach Jim Marter from 2000-2009. His teaching run at Newton began in 2004.

Things weren’t always good for the Cardinals on the diamond. Playing in the Central Iowa Metropolitan League was not easy. But Riley enjoys being the underdog.

“I loved being around the baseball program. I fell in love with the kids,” Riley said. “And they are a special kind of student that I can connect with.

“We were always in over our heads playing in the CIML, and I knew most nights we were going to get whooped,” Riley said. “But I still cared about them, wanted them to get better and they did. I kind of like being the underdog and we were underdogs every time we took the field in baseball back then.”

The Cardinals were challenged in the CIML during the baseball season, and Newton spent a good chunk of Riley’s time as head golf coach in Class 4A and playing in the fall.

That also wasn’t easy.

But Riley was part of the coaching staff that guided Newton to the state baseball tournament in 2001 and led the Cardinals to the state golf tournament a few years back.

Austin Reynolds and Trey Vanderlaan also played in the 3A state golf tournament as individuals under Riley.

“When our kids win, it matters. They take pride in that,” Riley said. “Because when we were in the CIML, it didn’t happen very often. We are the underdog in golf every year. I have had a few teams that bought in and made things happen. When I get a special group of kids to come through, my goal is to get them to believe.

“We went to the state tournament my third year with the baseball team. We were a .500 team, but that schedule was tough. We were good.”

Riley stopped coaching baseball after about 10 years on the staff. That decision mostly revolved around family, but he also went back to school to get another master’s degree.

He did return to coaching baseball several years later, but eventually decided coaching his kids’ baseball teams was about all he had left in him.

“It was getting harder at home. My kid was born and my wife was tired of me being gone,” Riley said. “I get it. I spent hours on the baseball field.

“I coach my kids’ baseball team, but I don’t want to give up my entire summer these days. I like to play golf too much, and I want to be on the course in the summer for the golfers who are out there.”

Riley, who is the longest tenured head coach at Newton, has had two assistant golf coaches during his time as the leader of the program. Scott Enyart was a long-time assistant before Jason Carter took over that role a few years back.

“It’s the best gig in the world. Coaching golf in general is awesome,” Riley said. “I love being out there. I love helping kids get better and watching them fall in the love with the game. There are so many kids playing out there and I absolutely love it.

“Golf is impactful, but it seems like it’s less evasive. The season also is a lot shorter. And the meets are during the day and I can be home at night before my kid goes to bed.”

All of Riley’s years in the classroom have been spent at the high school level. That’s been by design as he’s always wanted to be around the kids he coaches.

“I went into teaching because I wanted to be around athletics. I was a sports junkie,” Riley said. “I got into teaching to be a coach. But that’s changed. I think coaches who also teach are better coaches because you are around kids all day and can relate to them better. It’s just different.”

Golf also is one of the few sports that has most of their events during the school day. That can be hard on athletes during a key part of the school year.

“If the kids aren’t good students, it can be hard to play golf because you miss quite a few days for meets,” Riley said. “But if one my golfers starts to struggle, I won’t let them go to a meet. School comes first. Golf is a privilege, not a right. I haven’t had a lot of issues with that though.”