Geelong basketball identity Dan Riches to coach the Surfcoast Chargers in 2025

A title-winning Geelong basketball identity was in Florence when an online post immediately captured his interest: the Surfcoast Chargers were looking for a new senior mentor.

Dan Riches coaches the Corio Bay Stingrays in a preliminary final against the Sherbrooke Suns in 2014. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

It was enough to steal his attention while holidaying in one of the most beautiful cities on the face of the earth.

Geelong basketball identity Dan Riches and his fiancee were in Florence when an online post piqued his interest: an advertisement for a new men’s senior coach with the Surfcoast Chargers.

A former Geelong Supercat and a key figure behind the establishment of the now defunct the Corio Bay Stingrays, Riches was initially surprised by the news, considering outgoing Chargers mentor David Scott had guided the team from dead last in 2022 to a division two Big V grand final berth this year.

“We were in the line to see the statue of David,” Riches said of when he saw that job ad.

“When a team loses the grand final, usually the coach goes around again, my interest was automatic because of what I’ve observed at that club over the last three to five years.

“They’ve continued to grow.”

Riches had attended the Chargers’ semi-final win over Southern Peninsula in early August and was very impressed by what he experienced.

“I was blown away by the atmosphere, the organisation, the amount of kids that were there,” he said.

“I thought to myself: ‘This culture feels right’.”

Riches coaches the Stingrays in 2014. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

In fact, Riches had been open to the next step in his basketball journey for a couple of years, after close to a decade largely withdrawn from the sport after going into business.

Riches currently runs East Geelong wellness spa Mind Body Salt.

For a period of time, business had drawn on Riches’ competitive juices and filled the void that competitive sport had once filled.

However, he would coach an under-14 boys team to stay involved in the game.

“My life is basketball, the only time I’ve been out of basketball has been the last eight, nine years when I went into business,” Riches said.

He would tell his partner Sam the Surfcoast opportunity was “the one I want to go for”.

“I’ve been keen for a few years, really itching to get back into some serious basketball,” he said.

Riches with his father Russell, a former national representative, in 2008.

“But I’m not going to travel to Melbourne to do it.

“She was all in for me to go for it.

“I had to say: ‘No, let me sleep on it’, she was pushing me to send in my expression of interest straight away.

“It’s something we’d been preparing for a while.

“So I slept on it and the next day I couldn’t get it out of my mind.”

Arriving back on a Wednesday night, Riches would meet with Surfcoast Basketball Association reps the next morning.

He was pleased to hear the SBA had grand plans for the Chargers to be promoted to the championship within five years.

And in a further positive sign, Riches had connections with current Chargers Jason Reardon and Paul Hutchison while director of coaching and under-23s coach Greg Smith was a trusted ally.

Riches marshalls his Stingrays in 2014. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

“Greg Smith was one of the biggest factors ... he did a lot of vetting for me for what kind of club it was,” he said.

While Scott has obviously departed the scene, Riches is confident the majority of the squad would be back for 2025.

“I’d like to think most of those blokes want to come back,” he said.

“Given that they lost it, there’s going to be a fire in the belly for most of those guys which is great for me as a new coach coming in, they were that close to winning it.”

He said he employed a contrasting approach to coaching.

“My coaching style is to push them up and down the floor, really aggressive with offensive transition,” he said.

“It’s a bit of both, free flowing basketball but also we’ll know where our shots are coming from when things dry up.”

The day Dan Riches’ basketball trajectory changed

Riches was a talented basketballer, until an ACL injury changed everything.

A title-winning coach with the Corio Bay Stingrays, and former director of coaching at the Bellarine Storm, Riches also guided future stars at Duke University.

However, it could all have looked so different if his own career hadn’t ended at the age of 23.

Developing his game as a junior both locally and the Melbourne Tigers, Riches would go on to play for Geelong Supercats, Mildura Mavericks and South Adelaide.

There were also NBL pre-seasons with the South East Melbourne Magic in 1997 and the Adelaide 36ers in 2001.

However, that knee injury reshaped his life’s direction and it would take some time before he began to fully embrace the game from a different perspective.

“I could really only start enjoying it a lot more when everyone in my age bracket stopped playing,” Riches said.

“When I was older than the players, my mindset changed.

“I wrung as much as I could out of that leg, after I did it, it was just nothing like it was beforehand,

“I think either way I would have gone into coaching.

“But it definitely wasn’t part of the plan and I wanted to play longer than 23.”

He said he had “all my eggs in that basket” and wanted to be a baller for as long as he could.

By the end of his playing days, his weekly prep largely consisted of missed Tuesday sessions and some basic training on Thursdays, admitting he was essentially “cooked”.

Originally published as Geelong basketball identity Dan Riches to coach the Surfcoast Chargers in 2025