UC athletics donor hires pair of former coaches, including recent baseball coach Googins
Riley Decker Companies, a staffing and recruiting company and prominent University of Cincinnati athletics donor, has hired a pair of former Bearcat coaches to its organization in leadership roles. Both were part of UC athletics just this past season but had different reasons for departure.
Chris LePore, former Wes Miller chief of staff for UC men's basketball, stepped aside and will not be part of the new coaching team for the 2023-24 season for family reasons. Scott Googins was UC's head baseball coach for the past six seasons but resigned in late May after just one winning season, though he did return the Bearcats to the NCAA tournament in 2019.
Googins moved on after a season that featured two assistants being terminated for possible NCAA violations involving gambling. An internal investigation showed no gambling on the part of UC coaches. Still, director of baseball operations Andy Nagel and hitting coach Kyle Sprague were dismissed for potential violations centered around a Bearcat player's parent, Bert Neff. Neff is a prominent figure in the dismissal of Alabama coach Brad Bohannon, based on a bet made in Cincinnati allegedly by Neff with the knowledge of the coach.
Googins had to manage the Bearcats down two staff members over the last five games with UC losing four and being competitive in a season-ending AAC tournament loss to No. 15 East Carolina. Prior to UC, he was Xavier's head coach for 12 seasons winning a school-record 341 games.
Chris LePore
LePore has been in Division I college basketball for a decade and came with Miller to UC after spending seven years with him at UNC-Greensboro. He made his way from being a graduate manager to assistant coach. At Cincinnati, he was elevated to chief of staff. He will now work in Riley Decker's Louisville region as a national account manager. He is scheduled to return to Cincinnati to run Wes Miller's summer basketball camp as he's done in the past.
"I am thrilled to add Chris to our team," CEO and co-founder Kyle Decker said. "His energy for people and his work ethic translates directly into our business and will give us a boost both internally and externally. We have big growth plans for Chris and his journey here at Riley Decker and are excited for his family to return back to Louisville where his wife Jen is from.”
Scott Googins
Googins will work in leadership and sales for Riley Decker Companies in Cincinnati. He has over 15 years of Division I head coaching experience and won just shy of 500 games at UC and Xavier. He had six 30-win seasons and four NCAA tournament appearances and was an Atlantic 10 and Big East Coach of the Year.
“Scott and I are from the same hometown of Granville, just east of Columbus and paths crossed in recent years here in Cincinnati," Kyle Decker said. "In the coaching profession and local communities. Scott is well respected for his leadership pedigree and ability to develop and galvanize teams for positive results. This is a huge win for our company for he is a proven winner and understands what it takes to drive an organization forward.”
Who is Kyle Decker?
The CEO and co-founder of Riley Decker Companies (with Todd Riley) is a former Miami RedHawks football player whose company has donated to his alma mater in Oxford generously as well as the University of Cincinnati. The Riley Decker name appears on the Nippert Stadium scoreboard and they recently sponsored name, image, likeness, or NIL, opportunities for former UC basketball player David DeJulius as well as current Bearcat C.J. Fredrick.
The company also sponsors several NIL deals for Miami University athletes. Miami has honored him in the past as Young Philanthropist of the Year and during his 2004-2008 football run with the RedHawks he was honored as the 2006 Outstanding Walk-On.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Bearcats coaches find new jobs after leaving UC
