Andrew Riley has been named the new head football coach at Verona Area High School.

Joel Zimba, VAHS Activities Director made the announcement on Thursday, Jan. 20.

Riley takes over the reins from former coach Dave Richardson who resigned at the end of last season. Richardson, who eclipsed 200 career wins last year, is only the 58th coach in Wisconsin to accomplish that feat. Richardson agreed to continue as the VAHS strength and conditioning coordinator.

“I am extremely excited and honored to be the next head football coach at Verona Area High School, and honestly, for the whole district,” Riley wrote in a statement to families in the district.

Riley said he’s grateful for all of the character, leadership and relationship building that coaches like Richardson, Scott Cramer and Andy Kruger have established in the last 20-plus years with the program.

“It feels incredible,” he said. “I have learned a lot from Dave Richardson, Scott Cramer and all of the other coaches. I feel like I’m in the unique position to continue the tradition and create some new spins.”

Riley has been an assistant coach for eight years with the Wildcats. He is in his sixth year as a physical education and health teacher at VAHS. He began his teaching career for two years at Country View Elementary.

“I can promise that our Wildcats will always push, fall and fail forward,” he said. “That means we will work hard to earn what we get, always leave things better than we found them, and use our mistakes to learn instead of being afraid to make them.”

Riley has also coached basketball and baseball at the sub-varsity levels in Verona.

Riley is a West Allis Nathan Hale High School alumnus. He then attended and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He did his student teaching at Country View in Verona before getting a fulltime teaching position.

Zimba said two traits that stood about Riley as a good fit for a coach are passion and integrity.

“He has the uncanny ability to connect with students, motivating them to succeed within the classroom, on the field, and achieve their post-graduation goals,” Zimba said. “For years, coach Riley has been an integral member of the Verona Area High School staff, cementing deep roots within our school and community. He genuinely cares about Verona Area High School and our students, which is invaluable.”

Riley said he has to talk with each member of the coaching staff, but said he’s confident most of the coaching staff will be back for next season.

Riley said if fans look at the team he played for in high school about what type of offense he will implement as a head coach, it will be tough to determine. It may be too early for Riley to reveal what type of offense he will run since he played on a 3-4 defense at West Allis Hale in high school for a team that ran a Wishbone option offense.

“Our offense will be a marriage of different styles,” he said. “We will work on the perimeter and continue to try to get the ball to our athletes in space.”