Lincoln Riley breaks down balance of football, recovery from pneumonia

Lincoln Riley struggles to step away from the field. The USC head coach missed practice on Monday and Tuesday this week after suffering from pneumonia. On Thursday, Riley described the difficulty of resting while wanting to coach his team.

“I probably didn’t balance it very well last week. That’s probably why I wasn’t doing too good after [USC’s 34-32 loss to Utah],” Riley said. “If I had to do it over again, I’m stubborn, I’d probably do the same thing, which I’m not proud to admit.

“Last week kind of felt like I was in one of those positions where it’s like do you take away from the prep or do you do what you probably should do for your body? And I chose [option] A and I paid for it, obviously, early this week. But, it was hard not to, man. I’m very invested in this team and this program, and I want to win badly.”

Riley is just starting to recover from his illness. The head coach claimed he began to feel ill last Tuesday as USC prepared to face Utah. Riley battled through the week, but wasn’t at full-strength. USC reflected his lack of energy against the Utes. The Trojans’ defense allowed 482 yards in the loss, giving up 5.3 yards per Utah rush.

Lincoln Riley isn’t used to rest

After Riley’s adrenaline crashed following the game, the 40-year-old head coach followed suit. For three days after the game, Riley was forced to rest at home on doctor’s orders. It was a foreign feeling for Riley.

“[It was] the first time in 20 years that I’ve missed practices, and there’s a lot of coaches that have gone much longer than that and probably never missed a day and that’s a tough position, man,” Riley said. “We’re competitive. We want to win and do our best. But, I’m thankful we got some people that are here that looked out for me and I’m appreciative of that.”

With Riley out, assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons took over head coaching duties. The swap was short-lived. Just 48 hours after missing practice on Monday, Riley returned. Now, he’s hoping to feel like himself by the weekend.

“I’m definitely a lot better than I was,” Riley said. “But it’s kind of a slow process working your way back. I’ve never had something like this before so I’m kind of learning a little bit as I go.”

USC will look to break a two-game losing streak as it squares off against California this weekend. The two programs will meet at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.