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The Basketball Podcast: EP394 with Ritchie McKay on Conceptual Coaching, Packline, and Mentors
In this week’s basketball coaching conversation, Liberty University head coach Ritchie McKay joins the Basketball Podcast to share insights on conceptual coaching, packline and the value of mentors.
Ritchie McKay is the head coach of Liberty University’s men’s basketball program, where he has led the Flames to unprecedented success since returning in 2015. In his second stint at Liberty, McKay has guided the team to seven 20-plus win seasons, including a school-record 30 victories in 2019–20. Under his leadership, Liberty captured three ASUN Tournament titles, four regular season championships, and earned its first NCAA Tournament win in program history in 2019. Over the past six seasons, Liberty has won 149 games—eighth most in the nation during that span.
Before returning to Liberty, McKay spent six seasons as associate head coach at the University of Virginia under Tony Bennett. During his tenure, the Cavaliers posted a 136–64 record, won the ACC Championship in 2014, and made three NCAA Tournament appearances.
McKay’s head coaching career spans over two decades, with previous stops at New Mexico, Oregon State, Colorado State, and Portland State. At New Mexico, he led the Lobos to an 82–69 record over five seasons, including a Mountain West Conference title and NCAA Tournament berth in 2005. At Colorado State, McKay posted a 37–23 record and guided the Rams to the NIT quarterfinals in 1999. His tenure at Portland State marked the revival of a dormant program, earning national recognition and a Clair Bee Award finalist nod for innovation in coaching.
In total, McKay has amassed over 400 career wins and holds the highest winning percentage in Liberty program history. His coaching accolades include multiple Coach of the Year honors, national recognition for leadership, and a reputation for building programs that compete with integrity and purpose.
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Ritchie McKay Quotes:
“I had a chance to witness firsthand some things that I was able to absorb in order to help build what I think I needed to come back to Liberty and be a better coach than I was the first time.”
“Those little habits that we continued to commit to, continued to develop, they became instinctive in games . . the defense that I believe is the best is when all five guys are on the same page and we’re not worried about the one-on-one matchup, but you’re playing against our team instead of the individual . . defensively, when you’re connected like that, you’re really hard to beat.”
“I’ve had many mentors . . One of my mentors said, ‘We should always make our decisions based on our convictions and not just our opportunities.’ If we keep that practice up, we’ll avoid the propensity to water down our conviction to fit the opportunity.”
“You’re either a great teammate and fully invested or you’re not. So, we’re taking guys that are great teammates and that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves . . You can see that that would be a competitive advantage on the defensive end, but offensively, when you remove the confusion and the doubt . . I think there’s a chance for a free flow that we’re all trying to capture.”
“I try to pick up a concept or a trend or two that I think would fit with our personnel and then see how we guard it in practice. And if we can’t guard it or we struggle with it, you better believe we’re going to implement it.”
“We hopefully will have a better practice the next day. You’ve got to be okay with it not looking the way you want because, quite honestly, we can control practice as much as we want so we feel better when we go home, but when we’re in games, we can’t stop playing. They’ve got to be able to navigate the hard.”
“In the summertime, we’re playing five-on-five. We’ll do some skill work in the four hours a week. I’d say we’d have two 30-minute skill days. The rest of them are one hour, three days a week. And I’d say 75% of that practice we’re playing five-on-five because I want to know what their strengths are.”
“There’s got to be a shift in your life where you go from me-centric to other-centric if you’re going to add any value to anyone else’s life.”
“I’ll say this about mentors, I think it’s really hard for human beings to do what they’ve never seen. So, being able to have people in our lives that we’ve seen and they’ve modeled for us what it’s like to be over ourselves or vulnerable or walk in your true identity . . It’s made a categorical shift in my daily pursuit.”
“What you do every day is way more important than what you do every once in a while . . I’m waking up in the morning . . and having a great appreciation that I get to do something that I love.”
“In the beginning of [the book, InSideOut Coaching] it talks about the four questions, ‘Why do I coach?’ . . ‘Why do I coach the way I coach?’ . . ‘What’s it like to be coached by me?’ . . and then lastly, ‘What’s your barometer of success?’”
“Jamie Winship talks about rooms and he said, ‘You should never walk into a room and get your identity from that room or you should never lose your identity in that room.’ That gave me so much clarity . . and having people that will constantly remind me who are on my protection team makes it a lot easier to realize where my source of strength comes from.”
Ritchie McKay Breakdown:
Ritchie McKay Selected Links from the Podcast:
Ritchie McKay
Dick Bennett
Tony Bennett
Ronnie Wideman
Brad Stevens
Bob McKillop
Rick Byrd
Matt Painter
Ben McCollum
Josh Schertz
Lennie Acuff
Greg McDermott
Derek Johnston
Jim Sterk
Claude Terry
Danny Granger
Brett Fuller
Jamie Winship
Bill Thrall
Randy Bennett
Tom Bennett
Paul David Tripp
Joe Ehrmann
InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives
Rick Barnes
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