Killian Riley joined the Yale men's soccer staff as an assistant coach in May 2025.
Prior to Yale, Riley spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Southern Connecticut State University where he specialized in working with goalkeepers. Before joining the Owls, he coached for one season at the University of New Haven.
From 2014-20, Riley served as the head men's soccer coach at Thiel College in Greenville, Pa.
At Thiel, he led the team to their first 3-0 start in program history. He also led his players to holding the team assists record, career assists record, and career shutout record. He had 10 All-PAC Conference Award honorees and 31 All-PAC Honor Roll honorees. He managed all of the operations of the program, wrote detailed practice plans to continue developing players, created a comprehensive recruiting structure to build a bigger and more diverse team, and guided players through their academics by focusing on good study habits.
Riley also spent some time as a professor of health and physical education while at Thiel. He reconstructed the syllabus for the coaching practicum course making it more focused on field experience. He was able to help students develop their coaching philosophy, create training sessions, deliver those training sessions, and understand performance environment.
Riley earned a bachelor’s degree in sports management from Heidelberg University in 2011 where he was a member of the men’s soccer team. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Ottawa University in 2013 where he served as a graduate assistant coach. He helped guide the team to a KCAC Championship and the NAIA National Tournament during his first year with them.
