Lincoln Riley provides timeline of pneumonia diagnosis, how he feels after return

The USC Trojans have been without their leader for the first few days of the week ahead of their game versus Cal this Saturday as head coach Lincoln Riley came down with a case of pneumonia last week.

Riley rejoined the team on Wednesday, and on Thursday spoke about his diagnosis that led to him having to miss some time.

“I kind of came under I think last Tuesday maybe and kind of pushed through, had a little bit of adrenaline from the game and then Sunday didn’t go too well,” Riley said. “I thought I’d be a little bit better by that point and wasn’t. Appreciate all the people here, got me seen and taken care of. Think it’s the first practices I’ve missed in 20 years of coaching which was not very much fun, pretty excruciating just to not be there with the guys and the staff.”

Coaching and calling plays during USC’s back-and-forth battle with Utah this weekend likely wasn’t great for Riley’s health, and despite having to stay home on Monday and Tuesday, he did his best to still be involved in this week’s game plan.

“I was able to interact some with the staff Monday from home, kind of limited that day, was able to do a little bit more Tuesday from home again with them. But yeah, Coach [Dennis] Simmons took over the head coaching aspects and then offensively guys kind of pulled together and took on an equal share and guys, staff, everybody did a great job of just kind of business as normal and so it was great to back out there yesterday, missed being on the field with the guys,” Riley said.

Simmons is the Trojans’ assistant head coach, and surely had to epitomize that role as he filled in for the sick Riley during his absence. But even though the head man is back, he’s still working towards feeling better and 100% himself with game day right around the corner.

“I’m definitely a lot better than I was, but just 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, but it was good to get the days. As much as I didn’t want to do it my body needed them and the doctors, and especially Caitlin, didn’t really give me a choice which was good,” Riley said. “I’m better, glad we’re not playing today, glad I got still a little bit more time but much better. I’ve made some big improvements in the last 24 hours and hopefully I can keep making those jumps leading into Saturday,”

USC and California square off this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. ET, and hopefully by then Riley will be back to full health as he looks to bounce the Trojans back from two-straight losses.