Mike Ritchie has been hired to replace Ted Green as the Head Basketball Coach. Coach Ritchie currently lives in North Carolina where he recently coached at Scotland High School for three years.
Coach Ritchie earned at BSE at Arkansas Tech in '91 and completed his MSE at Arkansas Tech in '93. He served as an assistant coach at Arkansas Tech under Joe Foley for three years and one additional year as an assistant at Arkansas State University. He started the girls basketball program at Hendrix college as head coach. He also was head basketball coach at Christian Brothers in Memphis for two years before moving to the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
Coach Ritchie has spent 13 years as academic counselor for athletics at the University of Arkansas and East Carolina.
Coach Ritchie is very well thought of among Arkansas basketball coaches. Two of the finalist for the job have called to share their thoughts about Ritchie in a very positive way. One finalist, Jason Williamson a '94 Scrapper graduate, called to tell us that the committee "knocked it out of the park!" with this hire. He knew Coach Ritchie from working with him at the University of Arkansas. Another finalist, Jeff Flanigan-Head Coach at Ashdown, called to say, "We hit a Grand Slam with Coach Ritchie!" He felt like the committee sent a loud message to the community about wanting to build a basketball program.
There will be a meet and greet reception for Coach Ritchie on April 24 starting at 2:00 pm. This will be in the Scrapper Room at the stadium. The community is invited.
