Lincoln Riley opens up on his relationship with USC athletic director Jen Cohen

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley recently opened up about his relationship with new athletic director Jen Cohen.

Cohen came to USC from Washington in August to replace Mike Bohn, who stepped down amid controversy about the working environment he created. Bohn is also the athletic director who hired Riley. Still, Riley has found Cohen great to work with.

“She’s been tremendous,” Lincoln Riley told The Athletic. “It’s a tough time to start to develop because she got here right as the season was starting, but we’ve been able the last few weeks to have a lot of great conversations, and her experience, her aggressive mentality, she’s an effective communicator, she’s a really good strategist. She is going to be tremendous in I think helping give us the pieces we need, helping us navigate the challenges and obstacles that are out there.”

Cohen found a lot of success at Washington. One of the biggest accomplishments she had there was hiring head football coach Kalen DeBoer. Now, DeBoer has Washington on the edge of the College Football Playoff. Going forward, the relationship between her and Riley is going to be vital for USC.

“She’s got a great way about her. She’s got great experience. She’s got great juice and energy. And I think for the SC people that have had a chance to be around her, she is high level and she is high level in every sense of the word. She’s already made us better. I think as she gets her footing here, even more and more, she is going to be a huge, huge part of this,” Riley said, via The Athletic.

“I was thrilled when President (Carol) Folt made that hire and (I’m) kind of excited here through this offseason to continue to build it with her. That was a home run for USC. Obviously, just way more than USC football. That was a home run.”

Now, as USC prepares to transition to the Big Ten, Lincoln Riley and Jen Cohen must work together to make that go as smoothly as possible.

Lincoln Riley dismisses NFL rumors

Amid a frustrating season on the field, there have been rumors that Riley may move to the NFL. However, he’s dismissed those rumors.

“Hell no. No. I’m coaching at SC. Period,” Riley said.

“I didn’t come here for some short-term thing and as long as SC continues to give us the support and the things we need to continue to build this, this was not a two-year rebuild. No. I’m going to be the coach at SC. Period. End of discussion. I’m so committed to this place because I know what it can be. And if that commitment continues to get matched around us, we’re going to do what we’ve got to do in here and make the adjustments, make the tough decisions, push on the good, own the bad, fix the bad. We’re in it through all the twists and turns and I wanted to make sure people knew that and the more people we have with that same attitude, the faster this thing’s going to get back to normal.”