Hello there! My name is Coach Riley Halligan, and I am a defensive minded college football coach! Unlike most coaches, I’ve had a relatively unorthodox path to where I am today….

I played a standard 5 years of youth football, followed by 4 years of high school football. However, I was a reserve player in high school, and I thought my football future was over after taking my final snap of senior year. With that in mind, I began pursuing a career in video game development at DePaul University, a college with no football program.

Despite this, I had ample opportunity to explore my football passion. As a graduate of Hinsdale Central, a western Chicago suburb, I spent many weekends home coaching our youth football program along with my father. What I initially viewed as a fun activity to grow closer to my dad quickly grew into an intense passion, and somewhere among the playoff wins, conversations with former pros, dissecting of playbooks, and successful game scheming; I realized I was equipped to handle the intense rigor that a professional football career demands.

At the same point, a former teammate of mine started a club football program at Loyola University, another college based in Chicago. I reached out to him, picked his brain, and realized starting a football program at DePaul wasn’t as far fetched as it may seem. It was this conversation coupled with my unyielding passion that led me to be the founding president of DePaul University Club Football, a club football team competing in the NCFA.

As the founding president of DUCF, I accepted the challenge of building a college football program from the ground up. This involved speaking with the student activities board to officially form a campus organization, developing a business case for this program, gathering the general membership of said organization, drafting our club bylaws, hiring our coaching staff, researching and purchasing equipment, applying for campus provided funding, organizing practice and game day events, and otherwise operating a college football program. All of this work culminated in DePaul University Club Football fielding a successful team and season in 2014.

Despite the efforts of our coaches, players, and board of leadership, DePaul Football was not sustainable and eventually folded after my graduation. However, while playing against Loyola University twice in 2014 I caught the attention of their Head Coach, and I became his understudy. Learning from Coach Clarke eventually led to a position as the Defensive Coordinator with Loyola University Chicago in 2017, and despite a coaching staff change and a personal move to Oregon, I was retained as a scout with LUC Football. I continue to hold this role today, enjoying a diverse workload of scouting, compiling statistics, recruiting current high school and college athletes, and completing scouting reports for our opponents with LUC. It certainly hasn’t been a traditional career path as a college football coach, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

PLEASE TAKE NOTE: Loyola Chicago Club Football is a student run organization, operating through the Office of Student Activities and Greek Affairs. Loyola Chicago Club Football is not affiliated with Loyola University Chicago Athletics, is not sanctioned by, or competing in the NCAA, and is not a Division 1 Varsity sport. We are a club team competing in the National Club Football Association (NCFA). We can not and do not award athletic scholarships.

You can find out all additional information about our program at www.lucfootball.com

Over the course of my career, I have demonstrated excellence with the following positional groups:

• Defensive backs

• Off Ball Linebackers

• Hybrid Linebackers

• Edge Rushers

• Defensive Linemen

• Offensive Linemen

• Runningbacks and Fullbacks

• Wide Receivers

• Long Snappers

• Return Specialists

• Special Team Aces

Over the course of my career, I have demonstrated excellence with the following aspects of football operations:

• Recruitment

• Coach Hiring

• Fundraising

• Drafting of Bylaws

• Equipment purchase and storage

• Marketing

• Field Rental, game day preparations, and away game travel

• Campus relations

Players I have coached have gone on to compete for the following programs (bold denotes current team):

COACHES

• Sawyer Knibbe - Loyola University, HC (promoted from Loyola OC)

• Cole Pfeifer - Loyola University, DC

• Jonathan Khosa - Loyola University, D Line Coach

• Ryan Luft - Loyola University, OC and WRs coach

• Austin Choi - Loyola University, LBs coach

• Eric Pacynski - Loyola University, assistant coach

• Jimmy Thompson - Vanderbilt, Stars Coach // Louisiana State University, Quality Control

• James Rodriguez - Loyola University, Head Coach

• Stefan Milošević - Loyola University, STC

PROFESSIONAL

• Doug Kramer - Chicago Bears, 6th Round draft pick (2022) // Arizona Cardinals

• Ian Bunting - Arizona Cardinals // Chicago Bears // Dallas Cowboys // Indianapolis Colts // New York Jets // Seattle Seahawks

• Thomas Ives - Chicago Bears

• Matt Allen - New York Giants (Minicamp)

• Epafara Moananu - Vegas Knight Hawks (Indoor IFL) // Fan Controlled Football (Indoor fcf.io)

• Jovani Flowers - Oregon High Desert Storm (Indoor AWFC)

• Wesley Gray - Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks (Indoor AWFC)

• Sterling Goldstein - Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks (Indoor AWFC)

• Andre Dickson - Oregon High Desert Storm (Indoor AWFC)

• Manny Taylor - Oregon High Desert Storm (Indoor AWFC)

• Derik Huet - Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks (Indoor AWFC)

• Noke Tago - Tri-City Rush (Indoor AWFC)

NCAA D1 FBS

• University of Notre Dame

• University of Michigan

• University of Oklahoma

• University of Illinois

• University of Arizona

• Michigan State University

• Indiana University

• Miami (OH) University

• Duke University

• Army West Point

• UCLA

NCAA D2

• Northwest Missouri State University

NCAA D3

• Johns Hopkins University

• DePauw University

• Benedictine University

• Milikin University

• Carnegie Mellon University

• Denison University

• Lake Forrest College

• Washington University in St. Louis

NCAA D1 FCS

• Princeton University

• Columbia University

• University of North Dakota

• McNesse State University

• Fordham University

• Valparaiso University

• Colgate University

• Butler University

• Dartmouth College

• Holy Cross College

JUCO

• Butler Community College

• Iowa Western Community College

• College of Dupage

OTHER

• DePaul University (NCFA)

• Loyola University Chicago (NCFA)

• University of Manitoba (CWUAA)

• Hilbert College (NCAA D3, player transitioned from football to Varsity Soccer)