Lincoln Riley Says USC is Best Poised to Benefit from Recent Changes in College Football

Lincoln Riley hasn’t yet won a game as head coach of a USC program coming off a 4-8 season. But he again touted the position the Trojans, and USC as an institution, are in following a few years of massive changes to the college football landscape.

Rules regarding name, image and likeness, the transfer portal and now seemingly-constant realignment have molded college football into something different than what the sport’s fans had grown accustomed to. It’s been a while since USC has been consistently relevant on the national stage, but Riley sees that changing in the near future. It’s why he took the job in the first place.

Appearing on ESPN’s Always College Football podcast with former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, Riley went all in on the potential for USC in this new era of college football.

“There’s no university, in my opinion, and no football program that could benefit more from the recent changes in college football than USC,” Riley said.

Riley said 90% of college programs across the country fit within the description of a good academic school in a smaller market town with an up-and-down football program.

“This one is just very unique,” he said of USC. “The elite academics here. The huge market. It’s primed. I think everybody around here feels that.”

Riley on the USC Buy In

Going back to his introductory press conference, Riley has been consistent in saying how the desire by people at USC to again field a great football program had an impact on him.

McElroy asked Riley if USC was prepared to be competitive against the programs that have separated themselves in this landscape.

“What was intriguing about this was there’s been zero hesitation to do so,” Riley said. “It’s a program that is very proud. And it should be. The history is as good as it gets in our sport. But it’s also been humbled…But the commitment and alignment, you notice it right off the top. There’s a laser focus by everyone involved here to get this thing done.”

Building What USC Can Be Moving Forward

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Riley said. “Just because the setups there doesn’t mean that it just happens…I think the first six months have been very, very positive on a number of fronts. But there’s still so much to do. But the things are in place to get it done. And now it’s just work.”

USC went all in when it hired Riley. It’s clear football was going to be important again at USC. That’s something that wasn’t so clear over the past decade or so, based on results and decisions. USC is going to give Riley everything he needs in order to be successful. But it’s clear everything we’ve seen is still just a start.

“There’s some things that the program needed to do, from a resource standpoint, from a facilities standpoint,” Riley said. “The setting is right. The pieces are there. But you’ve got to continue to update and you’ve got to continue to adapt with the things that are changing in college football.”

Riley has his sights set extremely high in terms of what he feels the USC program can accomplish. He sees an all-time great program recreating its best years.

“This program obviously has historically been great,” Riley said. “I would argue that maybe there hasn’t been a time in history where maybe it was more set up to have success, because of all that’s changed. This thing has a niche here and I’m excited about what we can put in front of our guys right now and what we feel like we can build here together.”