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McKay Named to Achieving Coaching Excellence® Honor Roll
4/7/2025 11:19:00 AM | Men's Basketball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Liberty Men's Basketball Head Coach Ritchie McKay garnered inclusion on the 2025 Achieving Coaching Excellence® Men's College Basketball Coaching Honor Roll.
This is McKay's third appearance on the listing, previously being named to it in 2020 and 2021. He is one of 13 coaches on the honor roll and is joined by Memphis' Penny Hardaway (Head of the Class), Houston's Kelvin Sampson, Omaha's Chris Crutchfield and George Mason's Tony Skinn among others.
"Congratulations to the men's basketball honorees for 2025," said Achieving Coaching Excellence CEO Kennedy D. Wells. "We dedicate this year's class of honorees to the late Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, Honor Roll '24 '23. Rest in Power, Coach!"
McKay led the Flames to their first Conference USA Championship title during the 2024-25 season. Liberty posted a 28-7 overall mark and 13-5 CUSA record, also winning the outright league regular season title. McKay and the Flames have captured four conference titles in the last seven seasons and six regular season (or division) crowns during that span as well.
Started after the 2019-20 season, the College Basketball Coaching Honor Roll annually recognizes leaders in women's and men's college basketball that demonstrate tenets of coaching excellence that include on and off the court performance, community involvement and serving as champions for college basketball, their coaching peers and the coaching profession.
Achieving Coaching Excellence® is grateful for the opportunity to actively engage in college basketball and to encourage, uplift and empower these experienced and aspiring professionals and what we hope will be continued success and a bright future as servant leaders, teachers, mentors and coaches.
2025 Achieving Coaching Excellence® Men's Basketball Coaching Honor Roll
Head of the Class (HOTC)
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Honor Roll (HR)
Kelvin Sampson, Houston (HR '24 '23 '22 '21)
James Jones, Yale (HR '24 '22 '20)
Robert Jones, Norfolk State (HR '24 '22)
Ritchie McKay, Liberty (HR '21 '20)
Fred Watson, Miles College (HR '22)
Tony Skinn, George Mason
Duane Simpkins, American
Takayo Siddle, UNCW
Kevin Johnson, Southern
Lonnie Blow, Jr., Virginia State
Erik Martin, South Carolina State
Chris Crutchfield, Omaha
About Achieving Coaching Excellence®
The original concept of Achieving Coaching Excellence® (ACE) was forged for the benefit of 25 black football coaches who convened at Stanford in 1994. This professional development model stemmed from the collective efforts of Mike Brown and Ron Thomas of The Sports Institute and Stanford's Kevin Anderson (former Director of Athletics at Army and Maryland), Ted Leland and the late legendary Coach Bill Walsh.
In 2002, the ACE concept model was modified and adopted by the Black Coaches Association (BCA; later Black Coaches & Administrators) to meet the needs of ethnic minority collegiate women's basketball coaches. The inaugural ACE for women program was held in 2003. Male/men's collegiate basketball coaches were added in 2007. Primarily, ACE promoted the advancement of aspiring collegiate basketball coaches through programming facilitated by BCA and Advocates for Athletic Equity (AAE) through 2016.
Now, Achieving Coaching Excellence® will remain focused as an affinity group of professional, advancing aspiring coaches and professional development programming. Achieving Coaching Excellence® will chart a course for leadership, development and community.
This is McKay's third appearance on the listing, previously being named to it in 2020 and 2021. He is one of 13 coaches on the honor roll and is joined by Memphis' Penny Hardaway (Head of the Class), Houston's Kelvin Sampson, Omaha's Chris Crutchfield and George Mason's Tony Skinn among others.
"Congratulations to the men's basketball honorees for 2025," said Achieving Coaching Excellence CEO Kennedy D. Wells. "We dedicate this year's class of honorees to the late Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, Honor Roll '24 '23. Rest in Power, Coach!"
McKay led the Flames to their first Conference USA Championship title during the 2024-25 season. Liberty posted a 28-7 overall mark and 13-5 CUSA record, also winning the outright league regular season title. McKay and the Flames have captured four conference titles in the last seven seasons and six regular season (or division) crowns during that span as well.
Started after the 2019-20 season, the College Basketball Coaching Honor Roll annually recognizes leaders in women's and men's college basketball that demonstrate tenets of coaching excellence that include on and off the court performance, community involvement and serving as champions for college basketball, their coaching peers and the coaching profession.
Achieving Coaching Excellence® is grateful for the opportunity to actively engage in college basketball and to encourage, uplift and empower these experienced and aspiring professionals and what we hope will be continued success and a bright future as servant leaders, teachers, mentors and coaches.
2025 Achieving Coaching Excellence® Men's Basketball Coaching Honor Roll
Head of the Class (HOTC)
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Honor Roll (HR)
Kelvin Sampson, Houston (HR '24 '23 '22 '21)
James Jones, Yale (HR '24 '22 '20)
Robert Jones, Norfolk State (HR '24 '22)
Ritchie McKay, Liberty (HR '21 '20)
Fred Watson, Miles College (HR '22)
Tony Skinn, George Mason
Duane Simpkins, American
Takayo Siddle, UNCW
Kevin Johnson, Southern
Lonnie Blow, Jr., Virginia State
Erik Martin, South Carolina State
Chris Crutchfield, Omaha
About Achieving Coaching Excellence®
The original concept of Achieving Coaching Excellence® (ACE) was forged for the benefit of 25 black football coaches who convened at Stanford in 1994. This professional development model stemmed from the collective efforts of Mike Brown and Ron Thomas of The Sports Institute and Stanford's Kevin Anderson (former Director of Athletics at Army and Maryland), Ted Leland and the late legendary Coach Bill Walsh.
In 2002, the ACE concept model was modified and adopted by the Black Coaches Association (BCA; later Black Coaches & Administrators) to meet the needs of ethnic minority collegiate women's basketball coaches. The inaugural ACE for women program was held in 2003. Male/men's collegiate basketball coaches were added in 2007. Primarily, ACE promoted the advancement of aspiring collegiate basketball coaches through programming facilitated by BCA and Advocates for Athletic Equity (AAE) through 2016.
Now, Achieving Coaching Excellence® will remain focused as an affinity group of professional, advancing aspiring coaches and professional development programming. Achieving Coaching Excellence® will chart a course for leadership, development and community.
Step Into My Office with Ritchie McKay
Tuesday, September 30
Kaden Metheny & Zach Cleveland Talk About The Upcoming Season
Tuesday, September 23
Jesse Sanders: Faith in the Fight
Thursday, May 01
Coach McKay, Kaden Metheny & Zach Cleveland Talk About The Game Against Oregon
Saturday, March 22