Matt Leinart calls for patience, trust with Lincoln Riley at USC

The USC Trojans (3-4 overall) have lost three of their last four games on the gridiron this year. And even though they’ve been very close losses, the intensity has been ratcheted up on head coach Lincoln Riley. After the Trojans blew yet another fourth quarter lead to the Maryland Terrapins last week, losing 29-28, former USC star Matt Leinart took to Twitter to sound off on the program. He hasn’t been shy about criticizing the Trojans head coach in the past few weeks either.

On Thursday, Leinart walked that criticism back a bit, urging for patience within the USC fan base.

As frustrated as everyone is with Usc it is a process. This is year 3 and first year in the Big 10. Let’s try and have patience and trust that Lincoln and this staff will figure this out. Fight On!

— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) October 24, 2024

“As frustrated as everyone is with Usc it is a process. This is year 3 and first year in the Big 10. Let’s try and have patience and trust that Lincoln and this staff will figure this out. Fight on!”

As for Lincoln Riley’s hot seat, Leinart probably saw the $90 million buyout and that likely played a role in changing his tone in the past few days.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel recently indicated the Trojans are not likely to move on from their head coach because of his hefty buyout.

If Southern Cal was to make a change, Thamel reported the school would owe Riley upward of $90 million. Since USC is a private institution, that information is not available to the public. But some have wondered whether Riley would be on the hot seat considering USC’s 3-4 record entering Week 9, including a 1-4 mark in Big Ten play.

Because Riley has such a hefty buyout in his contract, Thamel said it’s not likely USC would part ways with him. To put that $90 million in perspective, Jimbo Fisher received the highest buyout of a sitting college coach last year when Texas A&M paid him more than $75 million upon his firing.

“People are unhappy about USC, right?” Thamel said on the College GameDay podcast. “My sources told me this week that Lincoln Riley would be owed $90 million if you were going to fire him. Right around $90 million. That’s like, Jimbo supersized buyout. So it feels like those two are a little bit stuck with each other right now – Lincoln Riley and USC.”

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.