Riley Fincher | Leading the Team

HEAD BASEBALL COACH/ASSISTANT FOOTBALL COACH/PE TEACHER | PLEASANT GROVE HIGH SCHOOL

Recently named the 2021 High School Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association, Coach Riley Fincher has coached for Pleasant Grove ISD for the past nine years.  Motivating, advising, and developing students to be the best they can be, both on and off the field, is the reason Coach Fincher deserves this honor,  and FSLM wishes him the best in all of his future endeavors.

photo by: DR. ROBIN ROGERS

Why did you decide to be a coach?  

For as long as I can remember, sports have always been a part of my life.  If I wasn’t playing organized sports, my friends and I were always outside playing pickup games.  Whether it was football, basketball, baseball, soccer, kick the can, whatever it was, we were always playing and always competing.  As I got older, I began to realize that coaching was something I really wanted to pursue once I was finished playing.  Outside of my parents (my dad, mom and step-dad), my coaches had some of the biggest impacts on my life.  The influences that they had on me was something that showed me that coaching was a career that I was wanting to pursue and be passionate about.  This school year is my 19th year in the profession.  

Name one thing about your profession that people might not know.

One thing that people might not know about the coaching profession is that our young men make a bigger impact on my life and my family’s life than they will ever know.  

Who has helped you become the person you are today, and how did they inspire you?

There are many people that have inspired me in my lifetime.  First and foremost is our Lord and Savior.  I have been and continue to be truly blessed on a daily basis by The Good Lord.  I am far from perfect, but He is always there for all of us, and without Him, nothing is possible.  My parents (Darrell Fincher, Mike and Debbie Chapman) have always been there with their support.  From a young age, they showed me the importance of faith, hard work, determination, resiliency, compassion, and thankfulness.  My siblings, although we have all grown up and have our own families, continue to be inspirations in their daily lives through their drives to be great parents and providers.  My wife, Stephanie, and my kids, Landon and Lauren, are the backbone of the family.  They sacrifice a lot, but are the biggest supporters of not only me, but the teams and student-athletes here at Pleasant Grove.   Some of my closest friends to this day are teammates and coaches that I have played together, coached together, or coached against.  Those people are inspirations because of the impacts they made and continue to make on myself.  This profession truly is a blessing that will bring some of the best people into each other’s lives.  

Tell us one thing you can’t do without on Thanksgiving Day and explain why.

Thanksgiving Day is a great family tradition of ours.  We either take our kids to my parents’ house, or my wife’s parents’ house.  Just having that little bit of down time to relax with loved ones is priceless.  One thing that is a must on Thanksgiving is banana pudding made by my Aunt Mary Jane.  My cousin, Trent and I, look forward to that every single year.  There’s just something about the way she makes it.  

What do you love most about the Four States area?

I grew up in Texarkana and moved away for college in the fall of 1998.  After graduating college and moving for a couple of jobs, I never envisioned myself moving back home.  But in the fall of 2012, the opportunity arose to come back home, and it was too good to pass up.  When we made the decision to move back to Texarkana, I was excited because my kids and family would have the opportunity to grow up in the city where I was able to.  Although Texarkana has grown and expanded throughout the years, it still has that small town feel with unbelievable people and amazing support for our community.  The Four States area is so special because of the amazing people that we have here.  It is a community that supports each other, and I am darn proud to say that I am from Texarkana, and this is our home.  

What lessons have you learned from the pandemic?

During the pandemic, the main lesson that I have learned is that there are so many great and amazing people in our community.  You see people helping people, leaders in our community working together to ensure that our town is safe and still thriving.  I know there have been hardships, but our community continues to come together to pull for each other, support each other, and always be there for each other.  

How would you like for others to remember you? 

When The Good Lord calls me home, I just want my kids, my wife, my family to know that I was always there to support and provide and always loved them unconditionally.   And I would like for people to know that I always tried to do the very best for each person that I was in contact with.