The USC Trojans are set to hire Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley as their new head coach. Riley has coached the Sooners the past five years after taking over for coach Bob Stoops in 2017.
Riley went 55-10 at Oklahoma and won four Big-12 titles while making three College Football Playoff appearances. However, the Sooners lost to Oklahoma State 37-33 in the “Bedlam” game Saturday and will miss out on the Big-12 Championship Game this year.
Riley will bring a wide-open up-tempo offense to Southern California, an offense that produced two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Alabama transfer Jalen Hurts was also a finalist for the Heisman in his lone season at OU. Aside from the weather, Southern California is also a hotbed of local high school talent that could be attractive for Riley on the recruiting scene. The style of offense that USC will now run is likely to be an appealing option for highly sought after recruits who are considering the Trojans.
Oklahoma originally hired Riley before the 2015 season as their offensive coordinator. In all but one season, Riley’s offense had been ranked in the top ten, and finished as the nation’s top offensive unit in 2018.
USC fired coach Clay Helton two games into the 2021 season. Helton compiled a record of 46-24 in his tenure at USC while leading the Trojans to a Rose Bowl victory over Penn State.
Coach Donte Williams took over as interim head coach for USC, finishing the season 4-7 and 3-5 in the Pac-12 Conference.
Following Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State, Lincoln Riley said he would not be going to LSU to replace Ed Orgeron. What he didn’t say was that he wasn’t going to USC. Riley is a big-time hire for the traditional Pac-12 powerhouse. Over the past few years, the Trojans lost numerous California based recruits due to their coaching staff and subpar play. However, with Riley at the helm, USC should be back in business and ready to contend sooner than later.
Rumours are now swirling that Oklahoma has their eyes on current Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury as a potential replacement for Riley. Oklahoma recently completed a bid to move to the SEC and will be looking to hire a recognizable name to make their transition to the toughest conference in the country as smooth as possible.
Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who will be inducted into the College Football hall of fame on Dec 7th, will reportedly coach the Sooners in their bowl game this holiday season.
-LaMarr Fields
Twitter: @raiderway83