DRC article on Rike and Angelo State

OldTimer · March 17, 2006

Men's basketball: UNT assistant Rike up for coaching job at Angelo State

08:29 AM CST on Friday, March 17, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas associate head coach Fred Rike could be returning to his roots in the Lone Star Conference in the next few weeks.

Fred Rike

Rike spent Wednesday interviewing for the opening for a head coach at Angelo State, an LSC school in San Angelo.

“I had a great day out there,” Rike said. “The athletic director and president were people I felt comfortable with. It’s an intriguing job.”

Rike’s West Texas and LSC connections made him an attractive candidate for ASU. Rike grew up in the West Texas town of Haskell and played at West Texas A&M. Rike’s brother played at Eastern New Mexico and Texas Tech.

WTAMU and ENMU are both members of the LSC, which has developed into one of the top Division II basketball conferences in the country. Tarleton State, one of ASU’s main rivals in the LSC, opened the season ranked No. 1 nationally in Division II.

Rike named the level of competition in the LSC and ASU’s Junell Center, an on-campus facility with a 6,500-seat arena, as two of the reasons he is interested in the job. The Junell Center opened in 2002.

“The Junell Center might be the best Division II facility in the country,” Rike said. “If there is a better one, I would like to see it. I think there is a lot of potential for a great program there. They want to be competitive on a national level.”

ASU’s new coach will face a long road to reach that goal. The Rams lost their last 10 games, finished 8-19 and went 0-12 in LSC play last season under former head coach Joe Esposito.

Rike was the head coach at Tyler Junior College from 1994-97 and has worked as an assistant at Memphis, Louisiana Tech and Georgia State in addition to UNT.

Rike completed his fifth year at UNT last season when the Mean Green finished 14-14 after falling to Arkansas-Little Rock in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com

TheColonyEagle · March 17, 2006

I hate to see Coach Rike go, but I wish him the best.

I covered the basketball team for the school newspaper at TJC one of the years he was head coach.

His team was ranked #1 in the nation JUCO and man, were they fun to watch. They did have a couple of knuckleheads on the team but that was one of the most athletically gifted basketball teams I've ever seen. They would put on quite a show. Dunks, three pointers, you name it.

He had several players go on to D1. If I remember correctly, one to Memphis, Indiana, Baylor and I believe Nebraska. He had some others go on to IAA and D II.

He's young and energetic and I figured he wouldn't be here long. And he's a really nice guy.