Riley Hunter back home, begins Heat broadcast role

It is — and is not — a homecoming, because as Ruth Riley Hunter stressed Tuesday, she never left South Florida since arriving as a WNBA first-round pick of the Miami Sol in 2001.

“I made it my home,” she said.

Now it is back to work with the same organization that gave her her professional start, named this summer to serve up as the team’s radio analyst for home games and studio analyst for road television broadcasts.

Riley becomes the first female analyst in the franchise’s 31 seasons. Julie Donaldson and Jill Martin previously worked as Heat broadcast hosts.

Heat Executive Vice President Michael McCullough said during Tuesday’s introductory conference call that Riley Hunter aced her auditions alongside radio play-by-play man Mike Inglis and studio host Will Manso.

“Ruth proved to be not only more than capable, but really a student of the game,” he said.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently called for an increase in hiring of female employees throughout the NBA, with the audition and hiring of Riley Hunter coming in advance of that announcement.

But Riley Hunter said she appreciated the significance of her hiring, one the has come in the wake of Becky Hammon and Natalie Nakase moving up the NBA coaching ranks as assistants.

“I think to be entering into an era where it’s no longer a story to hire a woman, the perspective and values and experience is what matters,” she said.

Riley Hunter said her decision was a matter of time and place.

“I was drafted here in 2001, an organization that’s treated me like family, and a next step in my career that I’m really excited about,” she said. “I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Riley Hunter, a two-time WNBA champion, replaces John Crotty, who this season takes over as television analyst for Tony Fiorentino. Her first Heat appearance will be on the radio broadcast of Monday’s exhibition against the visiting Orlando Magic.

Riley Hunter will be reunited with Heat halftime television host Ron Rothstein, her coach for her two seasons with the Sol, which then folded after those two years.

Riley Hunter’s broadcast experience includes serving as color commentator on Notre Dame women’s basketball broadcasts. She has remained a presence around the NBA, participating in this summer in the NBA’s Africa Game, which featured Heat center Hassan Whiteside, as well as with the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders European initiative.

Riley Hunter, 39, last played in the WNBA in 2014, with the Atlanta Dream, after time with the Detroit Shock, San Antonio Silver Stars and Chicago Sky. She was on Notre Dame’s 2001 NCAA championship team and then won WNBA championships in Detroit in 2003 and ‘06. She is the first player to be named Most Valuable Player of both the NCAA women’s Final Four and the WNBA championship series.

Riley Hunter (no relation to Heat President Pat Riley) most recently served as general manager of the San Antonio Stars, until that franchise relocated to Las Vegas this past WNBA season.

Born in Kansas and raised in Indiana, Riley Hunter also played professionally in Spain, Poland and Greece.

Riley Hunter’s work off the court has included serving as spokesperson for the UN Foundation’s Nothing but Nets, a global campaign to saves lives through the strategic prevention of Malaria, and Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit committed to ending childhood hunger in America.