Paul Finebaum: Lincoln Riley might be a total fraud as a coach

Few people, if any, have come down harder on Lincoln Riley lately than Paul Finebaum. Now, after USC’s final demise in their season finale, he went all in on the leader of the Trojans again on Sunday.

Finebaum shared his latest harsh criticism of Riley during ‘The Matt Barrie Show’ after USC’s 38-20 loss to UCLA in their season finale. He deemed it as an all-time mishandle from a head coach and one that was so bad that, per his suggestion, should mean a much sooner end to his time in Los Angeles than anyone anticipated.

“I don’t know when I’ve seen a worse coaching job by anyone than Lincoln Riley this year,” said Finebaum. “It’s a complete disaster. And, quite frankly, he ‘ought to pack up. I don’t really see what his path is moving forward.”

Finebaum didn’t stop there, though. He continued with a challenge to Riley himself to take some responsibility for the 1-5 finish to this season. He also added that, with how the campaign turned out at USC, there should be some very happy people out in Norman, Oklahoma for having avoided this mess.

“(Riley) blamed everything on Alex Grinch. They haven’t been any better – they’ve been worse. Well maybe, Lincoln, you ‘ought to look in the mirror?” Finebaum suggested. “Maybe you’re just a total fraud as a coach? Maybe you just lived off of a couple of Heisman winners?”

“What Oklahoma did for you? All the people in Oklahoma who were heartbroken two years ago who never thought that they’d get over that blowoff? They’re over it now,” continued Finebaum. “Lincoln Riley is nowhere near the coach that we all collectively tried to make him out to be.”

Finebaum closed by deeming Riley as completely guilty for wrecking the sport’s final season of Caleb Williams.

“Have you ever seen a college season ruined more than what Lincoln Riley did for Caleb Williams?” asked Finebaum.

“I said this a year ago right there that I thought it was really a shame that Bryce Young had such a terrible final year – he lost two games,” said Finebaum. “I mean you have a generational quarterback and you finish 7-5?”

USC started to show cracks in the foundation over the first three weeks after their bye. Then, come mid-October, it all came crashing down with the five losses, which came by an average of almost two touchdowns per defeat, and the one win coming by just a single point at California.

There’s no denying the meltdown that took place in Hollywood. The questions now, at least to Finebaum, are what it does to Riley’s reputation moving forward and if or how it could potentially affect the timing of the eventual end to his tenure?