College football insider believes USC will take huge swing at Lincoln Riley
By John Buhler
One college football insider would not be surprised if the USC football program took a home-run cut in an attempt to steal Lincoln Riley away from the Oklahoma football team.
As the USC football program continues its search for a head coach, one college insider believes the university could take a big swing at Lincoln Riley and rip him away from the Oklahoma football team.
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic looked at the current coaching landscape and vacancies and believes Riley could be heading to Los Angeles. Riley has been tied to the LSU job for some time, but he has denied potentially replacing Ed Orgeron in Baton Rouge. However, the USC gig is a sleeping giant out on the West Coast, a spot where Riley could have Pete Carroll-level success.
The other big candidate to watch for the USC job is Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell.
Would not be surprised if USC took a big swing to try and pry Lincoln Riley away from OU now.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 28, 2021
USC coaching rumors: Lincoln Riley could end up leading the Trojans in 2022
With Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in the next few years, Riley skipping town to take over a downtrodden blue-blooded program in another conference makes a ton of sense. The only other threat he would have to worry about if he took the USC job is Oregon as long as Mario Cristobal stays in Eugene. Cristobal may leave Oregon for Miami or Alabama in a few years though.
The talent is prevalent in Southern California, so it would not take very long for a proven head coach like Riley to win big at USC. However, he does have deep Big 12 roots from his days as a player at Texas Tech and his time with Oklahoma. Either way, Riley is slated for a massive bump in pay, whether it is from his current place of employment or from another school that wants to win.
Whether it is Campbell or Riley who takes over in Los Angeles, either head coach would be a fantastic fit to lead the USC football program.
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