Cliff McGuire leaving Rider as winningest coach in boys basketball program's history
The winningest coach in the history of the Rider boys basketball program is moving on.
Cliff McGuire informed his team he was stepping down as the Raiders’ head coach Monday. McGuire’s decision brings an end to a nine-season tenure that goes down as the most successful in program history.
His decision to leave was based around his family. McGuire does not plan to coach at another school.
“I’ve spent 16 years coaching other people’s kids, and now I get a chance to step back and coach my own kids for the next 16 years,” said McGuire, who has three kids – Caden (10), Tatum (7) and Hayes (3) – with his wife, Erica.
McGuire leaves as the Raiders winningest coach all time with a 192-102 record. McGuire has 255 career wins. He also has the best win percentage (65.3 percent) of any Rider coach with at least 100 games coached. Only Ken West (63-32, 66.3 percent) had a better win percentage from 1974-77.
Rider narrowly missed the playoffs in McGuire’s first season at the helm of the program in 2013-14. The Raiders wouldn’t miss again under McGuire, qualifying for the postseason in eight straight seasons as he took the program to new heights.
McGuire also owns the most playoff wins of any Rider coach. He led the Raiders to the only two regional tournaments in program history in 2016 and 2020.
"It means you’ve had a lot of great players, a lot of great coaches who have helped along the way. There’s also a lot of great administrators who have supported this team,” McGuire said.
McGuire also coached two of the greatest players in Rider history – TJ Vasher and Ty Caswell. Vasher was the headliner for the Raiders’ 2016 regional final appearance. Caswell was a freshman on that team and went on to rewrite the Rider record book, including points (1,925), assists (503), free-throws made (468), free-throw percentage (83 percent) and 3-pointers made (285).
But it may have been the 2019-20 team after Caswell graduated that separated McGuire as a coach. That team set the Rider record for most wins in a season (32) and advanced to the program’s second regional tournament.
“We weren’t supposed to be very good because we had lost Ty,” McGuire said. “That became the most successful team in Rider history. I’ve been very blessed to have some great players to make these great teams.
“This was a hard decision. I’ve loved my time at Rider. I’ve loved coaching basketball. It’s just time to invest in my own kids more.”
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Cliff McGuire leaving Rider boys basketball program
