Father met son on the court as rivals and equals for the first time at Fox High School on Dec. 8.
Curt Riley is in his first season as the head coach of the Holt High Indians girls basketball team from Wentzville. His son, Cory Riley, is underway in his second season at the helm of the Warriors. The nonconference game was dubbed “The Riley Shootout” and their family members wore that on T-shirts.
It was a lifetime-in-the-making moment for Curt, 64, and Cory, 31. Their family tree is rooted in teaching and coaching. Curt’s dad, Buck Riley, coached football at Flat River Central. Flat River is now Park Hills.Cory’s brother, David, is a high school baseball coach at Raymore-Peculiar High, which is a half hour south of Kansas City. Curt remembers getting 16-millimeter game film developed at a photo mat in Jefferson County after his dad’s games.
The Indians unloaded both barrels against Fox in the form of 88 shots from the field, took a 20-5 lead after the first quarter and the sheer weight of their offensive barrage and early lead led to a 67-36 runaway victory. The other key to Holt’s road win was it held Warrior senior point guard Izzy Frissell to three points under her season average of 16 per game.
“I told the girls here’s a couple things we can’t do, let Izzy break away and have open looks at the 3, and for the most part we were able to do that,” Curt said.
“Defensively in the first quarter we were as good as we’ve been all season.”
Curt said despite the one-sided score, he noticed the Warriors kept fighting.
“It was a difficult night,” Curt said. “I loved coaching against Cory and seeing our family there but you want it to be a closer game than it was. I think the girls (from Holt) knew it meant a lot to me. We were scoring off our steals.”
Like father, like son, Cory’s Warriors, who are 1-3, play full-court man-to-man defense.
“We had key turnovers and let them get a big push and we didn’t answer from there,” Cory said. “Both teams are evenly matched. The experience during the game, it’s hard to put words on it. Teaching and coaching are a family business. It was one of the biggest moments of my life.”
Going into the season, Curt had a career record of 449-248 coaching girls basketball at Linn County High, Pacific High, Elsberry High, Milan High, Kirksville High, Columbia Hickman, and Father Tolton Catholic High. He was inducted into the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2014. His teams won seven conference and nine district championships. Holt is in the Gateway Athletic Conference North Division. The three divisions of the GAC are comprised of schools from St. Charles County, Troy, Winfield, Washington and Warrenton.
Curt came out of retirement and moved to St. Charles County to be closer to Cory and his family, who live in Arnold. When the coaching opportunity arose at Holt, he thought it would be that chance to meet as peers on the court.
Curt said he didn’t just take the job to coach against Cory. He got to know the Indians (3-2) over the summer.
“We met early in the process and got to know each other. They’re a great bunch of kids. I think we can be successful at getting up and down and pressure hard and push the offense as far away from the basket as we can. We’re going to guard you hard and if you dribble into us, we’re going to trap you. We struggle with our depth. We’re getting there.”
Fox is at Seckman on Friday night for the annual C-6 Candy Cane Classic.
“Hopefully it’s a super-competitive game,” Cory said. “They didn‘t lose a lot (to 2025 graduation) and we did. What we were lacking last year was court sense because they weren’t on the floor a lot. Our girls have had this game circled all year. I feel like the season doesn’t start until you play Seckman.”
If the Warriors beat the Jaguars, look for that signature Riley expression.
“The fist pump,” Curt said. “Cory was on my staff at Tolton and we were at Moberly Community College in a tough, close game. When the buzzer went off, we both fist pumped at the same time and they got it on film.”
You can frame the Riley’s first exposure to each other as rivals as the game of their lifetimes.