Lincoln Riley on potentially giving up play-calling: 'I'll always do what's best for the program'

Lincoln Riley isn’t quite ready to give up play-calling duties at USC yet, but he didn’t rule it out in the future.

Coaches turn over play-calling duties to offensive coordinators all the time. Usually when a big name does it, it’s, well, it’s a big deal.

Riley won’t do it quite yet and he’ll operate his offense as is. But the USC coach definitely gained some perspective this offseason.

“I don’t necessarily want to have to do it, but I’ll always do whatever I think is best for the program to help us win,” Riley said on Sirius XM. “You know, I’ve given full time quarterback duties … which was a big step for me, and allow me to be more present in a few other areas. I’m not quite ready to give up the whole thing … 

“It’s something that’s worked well, and I do think gives us some advantages. And so I don’t want to take that away. I knew that coming in, and I felt like one of the advantages of this job was not just the firepower that it has, but like you were truly going to start with a blank slate, we have in every sense of the word, and to truly build it the way you want to build it from the ground up.” 

USC doesn’t want to be too patient, at least in the eyes of the fans. So Riley better hop to it in terms of competing for titles.
The Riley era got off to a great start but last year’s team was certainly disappointing. Giving up play-calling or not, Riley sees bright days ahead.

“We’re in the midst of building a brand new football facility that will be one of the best facilities in the country, if not the best,” Riley said. “We have conference change, we’ve had athletic administration change, we’ve had coaching staff change. I mean, you name it like we’ve overhauled it. So it’s been fun to do. 

“I don’t ever want that to take me too far away from the game and from the players, where you just sit up on your perch … that’s not really me, so we’ll see how it evolves. But, not ready to (give up play-calling) yet.”

There’s promise going into the first year in the Big Ten for USC. Riley just has to push the right buttons.