Lincoln Riley leaves Oklahoma to take USC job in home run hire for Trojans

Lincoln Riley is reportedly leaving the Oklahoma Sooners to take over the USC Trojans.

After losing the Bedlam Series last night to Oklahoma State, Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley is reportedly heading to Los Angeles to take over at USC.

Bruce Feldman of The Athletic tweeted earlier that he would not be shocked if USC took a big swing at Riley for their head-coaching vacancy. While that seemed to be a bit out of left field with Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell seen as the front-runner for the gig, it was proven to be true with Pete Thamel of Yahoo’s reporting that this deal will be finalized in the next day or so.

Riley leaves Norman with a 55-10 record, four Big 12 championship and three trips to the College Football Playoff in five seasons on the job.

Matt Zenitz of On3 reports Riley has already told the people at Oklahoma he is leaving for USC.

Lincoln Riley to reportedly leave Oklahoma to take the USC job

Besides money and a golden opportunity to rebuild a downtrodden USC program, a big reason behind Riley potentially leaving a great job like Oklahoma is the Sooners joining the SEC in a few years. While they have been the preeminent program in the Big 12, that all could change when they enter a 16-team league with Texas in due time. This changes the dynamic considerably.

Lincoln Riley record

Riley’s record as a college football coach is 55-10.

Where is Lincoln Riley from?

Riley is from Lubbock, Texas.

Lincoln Riley age

Riley is considered young for a head coach, at just 38 years old.

As for what USC is getting in Riley, the Trojans have an ace recruiter, a quarterback guru and a head coach with a strong offensive philosophy. Though USC has a ways to go to getting back to good in the Pac-12, the Trojans are fortunate that the only program of note that is really humming in conference right now is the Oregon Ducks. That could change if Mario Cristobal leaves Eugene.

USC has hit this one out of the park by stealing Riley away from Oklahoma in the Big 12.

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