Lincoln Riley comments on decision to accept USC coaching job

Former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley commented on his decision to accept the coaching position at USC, and his leaving the Sooners program. Riley leaves the Sooners after a near-playoff appearance, amidst rumors that LSU was a potential new home for the coach.

Lincoln Riley on USC decision

News spread quickly that Lincoln Riley had accepted the coaching vacancy at USC, and the college football landscape shifted nearly as swiftly. After countless opinions and reactions to the announcement trickled in throughout the day, Riley himself finally made a public announcement on his career change via the official USC press release.

“I am truly excited to come to USC and join the Trojan Family as its new head football coach,” Riley said in USC’s press release. “USC has an unparalleled football tradition with tremendous resources and facilities, and the administration has made a deep commitment to winning.  I look forward to honoring that successful tradition and building on it.  The pieces are in place for us to build the program back to where it should be and the fans expect it to be.  We will work hard to develop a physical football team that is dominant on both lines of scrimmage, and has a dynamic balanced offense and a stout aggressive defense.

“I want to thank the administration, coaches and players at Oklahoma for five incredible years as their head coach. We accomplished some great things there and I will always cherish my time as a Sooner.”

Riley’s farewell to Oklahoma

Oklahoma also released a series of statements on Riley’s departure, including Riley’s farewell message to the school.

“My time at OU has included some of the most special years of my life and my family’s lives. I had so many great memories and made so many great friends that we’ll take with us forever. A lot of things that we were a part of here, I’m incredibly proud of — the success on the field, the success off the field, the players. Proud of the staff. Proud of the way we worked so well with the university and our administration. We’ve been able to have two phenomenal leaders in President Harroz and Joe Castiglione, and they have been everything I could ever ask for in this role and more.

“Leaving OU was probably the most difficult decision of my life. OU is one of the best college football programs in the country, and it has been forever. That’s not going to change with another head coach. It’s stood the test of time and it’s going to continue to do so. This was a personal decision solely based on my willingness to go take on a new challenge, and I felt like it was the right opportunity for me and my family to do that.

“We’ll leave here with fond memories. It’ll be very difficult to say goodbye to Norman, but it will always be a part of our family, our history. I’ll be a Sooner fan as long as I live — a fan of this state, of this university and the people here. I love them all very much.”

What Riley is walking into at USC

In his fifth season with the Sooners, Riley was tabbed as the heir to the Bob Stoops’ dynasty. Oklahoma is 10-2 this season and was on the cusp of a College Football Playoff berth until its loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday night. A win would have set up the Sooners to meet the Cowboys in Dallas for the Big 12 title this coming weekend.

Riley took over for Stoops in June 2017. Initially hired by Stoops as an offensive coordinator in 2015, Riley built the Sooners into a top-10 offense in the 2016 season and won the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Former USC head coach Clay Helton was fired after just two games this season. The Trojans are not bowl eligible and finish the season 4-7 overall with a 3-5 mark in the Pac-12.

Riley has recruited No. 1 overall class in On3’s 2023 consensus football team rankings, including five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson. The new USC head coach will be tasked with flipping some of those elite Oklahoma commits over to Trojans. Nelson is a Southern California product, along with four-star athlete Makai Lemon.

USC has struggled significantly to be a player in the Pac-12, both on the field and in recruiting. The Trojans currently have the No. 37 overall class per On3’s recruiting and not a single five-star recruit. They also have just three in-state commitments.

On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this article.