Lincoln Riley said Saturday he wouldn’t be the next head coach at LSU. However, he didn’t say he wouldn’t be leaving Oklahoma.
And the details are in what he said as it was learned Sunday Riley is leaving OU for the West Coast and USC.
USC has been going through a tumultuous period. The Trojans fired Clay Helton during the 2021 season.
Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley is leaving to become coach at USC, source told @ActionNetworkHQ. 1st reported by @mzenitz
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) November 28, 2021
Interim coach Donte Williams was 3-5 as USC completed its season Saturday with a loss to BYU.
Since Pete Carroll left for Seattle before the 2010 NFL season, the Trojans have gone through five coaches between those with fulltime and interim titles
Riley, 38, was 55-10 in four seasons at Oklahoma. He replaced Bob Stoops as Sooners coach in 2017.
His final game with OU was Saturday when the Sooners lost a thriller in the Bedlam rivalry to Oklahoma State,
Forcefully denying LSU job rumors and taking the USC job 16 hours later is just an all-time chess-not-checkers move. No one can even be mad about it. You were asking the wrong questions
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) November 28, 2021
Riley’s decision came hours after Florida announced it was hiring Louisiana’s Billy Napier as its next head coach.
The Oklahoma job is a huge one and now the Sooners will look to find a predecessor to Riley.
