Lincoln Riley dispels ego-based reason behind taking USC job
When Lincoln Riley left a stable job at Oklahoma to accept the head coaching role at USC — in the middle of the season, no less — speculation grew that Riley only took the job so he could build something on his own.
Riley, 38, had only been the head coach at Oklahoma for five years, having taken over in 2017 following Bob Stoops’ retirement. And Riley got off to a terrific start in his young coaching career: he made it to the College Football Playoff in three of the last four years at the helm, never once losing more than two games in a season, and amassed a 55-10 overall record. Though he never made it to the national title game, he certainly came close, and perhaps a few more years at Oklahoma may have gotten him that much closer to college football’s biggest crown.
Riley quickly shot down speculation that he wanted a fresh start, a chance to make something that wasn’t largely inherited from the Stoops era. Instead, he made it clear to FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt that he took the USC head coaching job and left Oklahoma midseason because _______.
“No. No there wasn’t,” Riley said, when asked if he left Oklahoma for USC simply to build his own program. “You know these jobs, there’s challenges at every single job. And there’s challenges at OU and there will continue to be challenges at OU. I think for me, it was so much more about what this place could be and the excitement level of that. I took over OU at a phenomenal time. Bob Stoops, one of the greatest coaches in history, he helped me get that job. He helped me to prepare for that job. I couldn’t have taken over a better situation, especially for a first-time head coach. I give him all the credit in the world for that, and it was great for me. The flip side of that is the very first year, you’re expected to win every game. So, there’s always give and take.”
When Riley left Oklahoma, the university brought Stoops back out of retirement to finish what Riley started. And while Stoops serves as interim head coach in Norman, Riley has plenty of work to build back up the USC program that has struggled mightily in recent years. The Trojans have not eclipsed eight wins since 2017, when they went 11-3, and their last season with 12 or more victories came in Pete Carroll’s penultimate season at the helm in 2008.
“I just think that would be an egotistical way to look at it,” Riley continued. “There’s going to be challenges no matter where I coach. This was just the right challenge at the right time. It just felt right. It did. As much as I loved OU, this was the right timing for us.”