New Cowboys offensive line coach Conor Riley is perfect complement to Klayton Adams

Here is what you need to know about Conor Riley.

The Cowboys took a major step towards completing their first coaching staff under head coach Brian Schottenheimer when they filled the offensive line coaching spot. To do so, they landed a coach from the college ranks: Kansas State offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Conor Riley.

Before anyone asks, this Riley has no relation to USC head coach Lincoln Riley, though that Riley does have a coaching brother who runs the offense for Clemson. Conor Riley, on the other hand, has made a name for himself as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football and just wrapped up his first season as a play-caller.

Riley was one of many coaches who followed Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman from North Dakota State, where Klieman went 69-6 and won four national titles. Since coming to Manhattan, Riley has helped the Wildcats consistently feature elite offensive lines while the team as a whole has gone 48-28 in six seasons, with 9+ wins each of the last three years.

In his six seasons coaching the offensive line for Kansas State, Riley has seen eight of his players earn All-Big 12 honors and has had at least one all-conference lineman each season. Last season, Kansas State was one of three finalists for the Joe Moore Award, given annually to the top offensive line. By far the most notable player Riley coached is current Cowboys center Cooper Beebe, who played multiple positions under Riley and excelled at all of them.

For as much as Riley has established himself as a phenomenal offensive line coach, his schematic background is perhaps what makes this hire so exciting. It’s not often that offensive line coaches get promoted to coordinator, and even less so that they actually get to call plays. New Cowboys offensive coordinator Klayton Adams is proof of just that.

After the 2023 season, though, Kansas State lost offensive coordinator Collin Klein to the same job at Texas A&M. Klieman opted to promote Riley, pairing him with a co-offensive coordinator in Matt Wells, the former Texas Tech head coach who brought a strong track record of developing quarterbacks.

Riley was given play-calling duties, though, largely to retain the structure of the offense from Klein. That offense was a fairly run-heavy one that was heavily based around the unique blocking schemes that Riley helped to install with his offensive line. This past year, Kansas State finished 11th in rushing yards per game, an impressive feat considering three of the teams ahead of them were triple-option offenses.

Two aspects of that run game that became signatures of the offense under both Klein and Riley were the heavy use of pulling blockers – making significant use of gap schemes and various ways of running counter – and the varied utilization of tight ends. Both coordinators frequently deployed their tight ends, lining them up both in-line and out wide, to threaten defenses with their receiving ability but also relying on them as matchup advantages in the run blocking game.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s basically the MO that Adams used with the Cardinals the last two years. Only one team pulled their linemen more than Arizona last year, and the Cardinals led the league in counter run plays. They also finished ninth in 12 personnel and second in 13 personnel usage, frequently getting their tight ends involved in the run game.

When Riley was first promoted to offensive coordinator, he had this to say about his offensive identity:

“When they watch our offense, what I want them to see is a disciplined team,” Riley said this week. “I want them to see a team that really plays their (butt) off and plays their (butt) off for one another. I want them to see a team that executes at an extremely high level. I want them to see a team that’s going to be extremely physical and physical at all points of attack.

“And then, ultimately, we want to be explosive and efficient. Without getting into much of the schematics, if you say those things about our offense, I know that we’re going to win a whole hell of a lot of ballgames.”

Of course, one major benefit of hiring Riley is also his familiarity with Beebe, who had a strong rookie year at center, a position he never played in college. Given how important the center is for making line calls, pairing Beebe with someone who was so formative in his development is a big deal. Back when Beebe was drafted to Dallas, Riley sat down with Nick Harris (then with the Cowboys team site) to discuss his perennial All-Big 12 player and said this:

For whatever circumstances that were so challenging going into it, you could see at that particular time that this kid’s not just going to be a good player, he’s gonna be a really good player. As the course of that season wore on into what was his sophomore season in 2021, you knew he was going to be a special player.

Brad McCaslin, who was the defensive coordinator at the University of Nebraska-Omaha when Riley was the offensive line coach and run game coordinator there back in 2007, had this to say about how Riley’s offensive line made practices a nightmare for his defense.

“We were not bad on our side over that time, but they always challenged us to the max physically and then we’d get caught by something. Whether that was misdirection, quarterback option, or play action in the pass game, it was just enough to mess with your eyes or create false movement and add uncertainty to your reaction. Very difficult to deal with.”

Hayden Gillum, who did start at center for Riley while Beebe was playing guard, offered this insight on Riley’s work ethic and how demanding he is as a coach:

“I think no matter where you have Coach Riley, head coach or equipment manager, he’s going to give his all and we know we’re going to get that from him as a coordinator. He is always 100% devoted and will give everything he has. I think I’ve seen his car up at the complex non-stop the whole time. We know he’ll do a great job and we have a lot of faith in him.”

“He was up in the tower the other day and I’m like, ’At least he won’t be able to yell at us’, and we could still hear him from the top deck. So whoever is sitting by him in the box, good luck.”

By all accounts, the Cowboys seem to have hired an offensive line coach that’s a rising star who brings philosophical alignment with his new offensive coordinator and has familiarity with the starting center (not to mention running back Deuce Vaughn). To call this hire a home run might be an understatement.