An Oklahoma football insider feels the administration was setting Lincoln Riley up for failure.
As Lincoln Riley begins his first year as the USC Trojans head coach, Oklahoma football fans have endured their most chaotic offseason in ages with former defensive coordinator Brent Venables now at the helm.
Never before have we seen two college football blue-bloods with very little history between them get this acrimonious. Then again, Oklahoma is not used to getting left at the altar. Fueled by an insurmountable amount of bitterness, the Sooners will have to carry on under new leadership. However, it does not stop Riley getting hit by the door one more time while he is on the way out…
Oklahoma insider Kegan Reneau explained what may have motivated Riley in his USC departure.
"“I think Lincoln felt that way, that if I’m not gonna get this building, I’m not gonna get this amount of staff, I’m not gonna get this amount of trainers or nutritional staff, if I’m not gonna get all the things that Alabama has, and that Georgia has, and that A&M and Tennessee have, and Florida — if I can’t have that, then we’re behind.”"
While Riley did not get those upgrades in facilities, Venables did get himself a bigger OU staff.
While he was supposedly not scared to compete in the SEC, Riley may have seen a massive competitive disadvantage and got out of Dodge, albeit a tad prematurely.
"“Lincoln Riley was NOT scared to compete in the SEC. I know that about him as a person. I feel confident in saying that … but I do think he was a little bit scared to fail, and those are two completely different perspectives.”"
It is only fitting that Riley will only spend two seasons in the Pac-12 before USC joins the Big Ten.
Oklahoma insider believes administration was setting Lincoln Riley up for failure
You have to wonder if Riley was on the best of terms of longtime Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione prior to him bolting for USC. Before deciding to leave the Big 12 with Texas for SEC Country, Oklahoma was widely seen as a top-three program in college football history, and indisputably a top-five one with the likes of USC. However, this all changes once joining the SEC.
Oklahoma will still be able to recruit Texas with two member institutions being the SEC footprint. Unfortunately, Oklahoma does not produce enough talent in-state to keep up with the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Texas and Texas A&M, all things equal. It has not been equal, which has served Oklahoma forever, but the dynamic is changing and they have to adjust.
While Oklahoma clearly had the financial capital to upgrade facilities, as illustrated by the improvements made before Venables even coaches a game, you have to wonder if Castiglione suspected Riley to be a bona-fide job-hopper. USC came calling first, but what if the NFL comes calling? He is not leaving USC for the Dallas Cowboys after one year, but you get the picture, right?
Ultimately, Oklahoma will still find a way to come out of this okay because it is Oklahoma. Who knows if Venables will be a great head coach? What we do know is he will recruit elite defensive line talent. He did it at Clemson, which has been the Tigers’ position group of strength during the peak Dabo Swinney years. If OU gets nastier in the trenches, the SEC transition won’t be so hard.
There are reasons to leave Oklahoma for USC, but facilities are probably not at the top of the line.
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