WATCH: Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma assistants board flight bound for USC
Lincoln Riley is heading to USC, and he’s bringing with him the nucleus of his newest Trojans coaching staff.
On3 previously reported that Riley is expected to bring at least three Oklahoma assistant coaches with him to California: defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons.
That move was all but confirmed early Monday morning, when a video surfaced on Twitter of Riley boarding a plane bound for USC. He was joined by Grinch and Simmons, and although Bedenbaugh was not visible in the video, Oklahoma’s director of football operations Clarke Stroud and strength coach Bennie Wylie were. Now, provided that Bedenbaugh will still make the move from Oklahoma to USC, it seems like Riley is bringing at least five Oklahoma staffers with him.
Sources: Three Oklahoma assistants expected to follow Lincoln Riley to USC
Grinch has been with Oklahoma since 2019, where he’s served as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach. A four-time nominee and two-time semifinalist for the Broyles Award, Grinch in 2019 led a Sooners defensive unit that led the Big 12 in total defense in conference play with 330.6 yards per contest. Prior to his arrival in Norman, he was a defensive coordinator at Washington State for three seasons, coaching under Mike Leach, and at Ohio State for one year, coaching under both Urban Meyer and Ryan Day. USC’s defense in 2021 allowed 447.1 yards per game, the worst in the Pac-12.
Bedenbaugh’s tenure at Oklahoma predates Riley’s arrival in Norman. The co-offensive coordinator first made the move from West Virginia to Oklahoma in 2013, coaching the offensive line at both universities. He was promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2017, a position he’s held ever since. Bedenbaugh was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2017, and he’s helped establish one of the top offenses in the country at Oklahoma; the Sooners rank first nationally in total offense over the past eight years, with 521.1 yards per contest.
In addition to his role at wide receivers coach, Simmons added the associate head coach title in 2019, before his promotion to assistant head coach and passing game coordinator in 2021. Simmons, like Grinch, brings Pac-12 familiarity to USC, as he previously coached for Washington State. He’s coached a number of Biletnikoff Award finalists, like CeeDee Lamb and Marquise Brown, and helped produce the award’s winner in 2016 in DeDe Westbrook.
Riley’s three assistant coach hirings at USC have not yet been made official by the university, but two of them — plus, two previously unreported candidates — were seen boarding the plane to Los Angeles. The former Oklahoma head coach will officially be introduced as the Trojans’ head coach in a press conference Monday.