Lincoln Riley has been rumored to a handful of jobs over the past few off seasons but none expected him to actually leave. That was until Oklahoma decided to move to the SEC. Now Lincoln Riley will be the next head coach at the University of Southern California.
Sunday afternoon news broke that Lincoln Riley had addressed his staff & the OU football team about taking the head coaching job at USC. This came just hours after saying he would “not be taking the LSU head coaching job” at a post game press conference.
It is rumored that Riley was extremely against the Sooners joining the SEC, and that was a major reason for his departure. With that being said it does make a lot of sense for him to not want Oklahoma to leave the position he helped build in the Big-12, especially just for more money. The Sooners would essentially have to rebuild their stranglehold on a conference filled with powerhouses.
During his time at Oklahoma Lincoln Riley went 55-10 and helped the Sooners reach the playoff four times. He also has coached two Heisman winners in Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray and produced some of the best offenses in the past decade.
The Pac-12 remains pretty wide open despite Oregon’s recent overall success. USC not only has the household name, and clout, it finally has the head coach to match it. Lincoln Riley has already been one of the best recruiters in the state of California landing four five-star prospects in the past two classes. Those prospects are expected to flip to USC along with Lincoln Riley, and I can only imagine the talent he convinces to stay from the LA area.
