FOOTBALL

Lincoln Riley Coming To USC Per Reports

USC in finalizing a deal to hire Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley in the next 24 hours according to multiple reports. It was first reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo.

This would be a blockbuster hire. Riley makes $7.6 million at Oklahoma and would probably make at least $9 million at USC.

It’s the kind of hire that will shake up the Pac-12 and Riley has recruited well in Southern California recently.

But I will say this again: It was not necessary to have this awful season as a price-to-pay for eventually hiring a big-time coach.

94 thoughts on “Lincoln Riley Coming To USC Per Reports”

    1. Football is back! Basketball is pumping what is Scott going to write about? USC lack of women’s softball team. Could someone please do a welfare check on Own’s?

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      1. Scottie may need to search a bit, but he will come up with something to

        Owns is basking in the glory of an 8-4 ucla season, on their way to 8-5 when they lose in the Corned Beef Hash Bowl. As good as it will ever get for the baby bears.

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    3. Alex Grinch was the HOT SHOT DC at Wazzu the year Leach beat Sam/RoJo. He bottled up a potent USC O.

      OU’s defense has improved very nicely with Grinch as the DC.

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      1. sorry to say it but alex most likely will stay and take over for lincon. Hopefully he will come along but most likely be elevated at OU to keep continuity there.

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  6. What a horrible hire, because if you can’t do it at Oklahoma, then why is it gonna happen at USC ? Theses pass happy coaches never get to a National championship game, because they don’t have physical teams.

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  7. Holy f

    Hopefully he can bring the qb and wr from Los Alamitos with him – and pull back the 5 stars we lost this last year.

    I would have preferred a defensive head coach, but this is about as good as we could have hoped for

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    2. Hopefully he can get Devin Brown back. They need to bring in 2 QB’s this year. Slovis will surely transfer as probably will Moss. I think Hassan doesn’t have any elegibility left. SC could end up with one QB next year.

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    1. Three Players with 5-Star rating are now crystal ball to USC.
      Looks like he will do well immediately on the recruiting side. Good for us!

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  10. Yes so true, Charles Smith. I’m stoked Lincoln Riley is coming to USC to build a program. I thought he was LSU yahoo bound. Way to go Bohn head pulling a coup getting Lincoln Riley out of OU.

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    1. We’re not haters we are realist about the state of affairs with the Athletic program especially the football program. Which has sucked and not lived up to standards since Pete Caroll left. Not too hard to figure out. That means competing for nattys. They can’t even win the Pac 12 south. Even though that’s where expectations are now. Have you seen how empty the Coli is lately. Bohn and Folt need to take some heat for that.

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      1. 2 things:
        I’m happy as hell for USC…
        …’Talk To Me Goose’ has been storing up a lot of venom…
        #Relax,It’sAllGood(Hopefully)

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Golf boy needs to take the heat for offering CH a big extension when no other program was coming after him

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    3. I think I have been defending AD Bohn for the past 24 months on this site. I met the guy about 10 years ago and found him to be genuinely polite, smart, college sports smart, and motivated. If he can confirm this hire, USC FB is back to relevance.

      It’s been painful defending this good guy for the past 2 years.
      Yep, a lot of haters around here. Hopefully they leave this site.

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  13. First Impressions:

    The guy is 38. Do you trust anyone under-40 (or over-40 for that matter)

    His wife’s name is Caitlin Buckley. Good. That is an SC-worthy name, and it is quite important to the SC Board of Trustees.

    Great timing– or not. He just got clobbered by his in-state Rival Oklahoma St., so SC catches the guy on a losing streak

    And isn’t his AirRaid offense similar to the COVID-19 virus with its various mutation spinoffs? That is, isn’t the Okie’s offense just another mutation from the AirRaid bloc?

    Transitioning to Wolfie’s idea that “It was not necessary to have this awful season as a price-to-pay for eventually hiring a big-time coach”. The only meaning I can derive from that thought is that you are suggesting SC should have kept on one Clay Helton as its coach, at least until the end of the 2021 Season.

    What other change(s) could SC have made to avoid such an “awful season,” not that retaining Helton would have necessarily helped out.

    That is a rhetorical question– you do not have to answer that.

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    1. “His wife’s name is Caitlin Buckley. Good. That is an SC-worthy name, and it is quite important to the SC Board of Trustees.”

      lol!

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    2. John –It’s our good fortune Lincoln lost that game yesterday. Otherwise he’s stuck coaching for the playoffs.
      And nobody can deny he’s a first magnitude coach. Way better than I or anybody else expected.
      #BeHappy!
      #I’mSureOurPlayersAre!

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      1. I hear you loud-and-clear, MG, but despite having a great time during this 4-day Thanksgiving break, it has come at the expense of my clients screaming at me for non-performance.

        Time to return to earth, get back to work, and every so once-in-awhile give you my 2-cents worth of nonsense. That stuff at the bottom of this sessions’ well was written earlier.

        God be with you, and with you all!

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    4. I think Bohn did the right thing. He got rid of CH early. That gave him the time to thoroughly research to get the right coach and it also told a lot of coaches out there that there was a great coaching opportunity open. He then hired a great coach early so that we can still have a good recruiting season. I’ve heard nothing but complaints on this forum about Bohn but I don’t see how anyone can complain about how he handled this situation. You can complain about Bohn all you want but he is a universe ahead of the last 2 guys we had.

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    2. You can always hire a great DC but don’t forget that the big 12 has always been a wild west shoot them up offensive conference. The name of the game in that conference is to hold the other teams offence down. Rarely will you ever find anyone in that conference who is going to lead the nation in defence.

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  15. If that happens then Bohn is THE MAN and I completely apologize for questioning him. That would just be insanely good.

    He will absolutely KILL it with recruiting. No doubt he will have a top 5 recruiting class this year, the recruits are just going to pile in if Riley is the guy. I just hope he brings in the best defensive coach he can find.

    His offense will be fun to watch, no doubt.

    After watching Dart in that game last night, I have to say that USC football is going to be a BLAST to watch if Riley is the head coach.

    So my recruiting wish-list is:
    David Bailey, Mykel Williams (re-commit), Devon Campbell, Ernest Greene, Raleek Brown, Zion Branch, Josh Conerly, Tetaroia McMillan, Kevin Coleman, Neto Umeozulu, Jaeden Gould, Domani Jackson (re-commit), Harold Perkins, Hero Kanu, Christen Miller, Gabriel Brownlow-Diddy (steal from OU), Gentry Williams (steel from OU), Gavin Sawcheck (steal from OU), CJ Williams (steal from Notre Dame), Devin Brown (re-commit)

    Transfer Portal
    Eli Riks from LSU, Kingsley Sumataia from BYU

    Coaches
    Keep Donte Williams, Vic So’Oto, Sean Snyder, Robert Stiner

    Maybe keep Mike Jinks as RB coach or something else

    Last night’s game proved that the USC roster still has some players and some spirit. I hope they are happy they have a great coach to lead them and some reinforcements coming soon.

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  16. I’m not the biggest fan of Lincoln Riley– he’s worked from the bullshit Air Raid in the No Defense Little 12, though he has moved to a more conservative offense. No one is winning a NC with the Air Raid, ever, ever, ever….

    Even the PAC 12 is murder for Air Raid offenses because it has a couple of teams that play power football well enough (Oregon, Utah, Stanford) to beat up Air Raid teams, and the rest of teams are basically 7 on 7 football, where the secondary play is a strength– USC has had some of the best QBs, WRS in the last decade and the team has been shit because there’s plenty of good secondary play.

    But this immediately returns USC into a National Championship tier program if only because the hype and recruiting returns. And presumably some semblance of competency, staff quality, discipline, game management, etc.

    Leave it to current day USC to try to win the press conference while making iffy or shtty decisions which usually leaves it trying to win the next press conference.

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  17. 1. Maybe Bob Stoops will be his Defensive Coordinator.
    2. One virtual certainty is that none of the top California QB’s sill be looking elsewhere first.
    3. Jaxson Dart just became the odds on favorite for the 2022 Heisman

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  18. Gee, I hope SC is finished looking and can lock this one up, so as to leave the Trojans fans if not in ecstasy, at least in less-agony.

    Because, dear-hearts, we are part of the problem of SC not looking so great to top California football athletes. If you were a kid what you think of SC after months (years?) of Trojans engaging in SC-bashing and calling this 2021 team garbage?

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    1. I think the bashing had to do with not wanting “top California athletes” listening to impartial ESPN announcers wonder out loud why they were watching 14 men on the field for USC….
      #….We’reALLHappyThat’sAlmostOver…
      #..CuzIt’sHardToListenTo…

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  19. Btw, some of what are left as ‘SC “fans” are silly, trashy, immature and stupid. We’ve got the pumpers, gamers, fanboys, ninnies, the type that get drunk and fight in the parking lot– who really don’t know ‘SC, football or traditions. They like emptiness and flash (which is largely what got us here.) I hope that changes with a new coach, if only because that change if permanent is also a bad thing for USC ever really “returning”. Anyone watching college football recently sees that what is surviving and prospering is what USC used to be, all the way down to the quality of the supporters.

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  21. My thoughts:
    1. Bohn was able to make a splashy hire that no one saw coming. Kudos to him. He had it in him after all.
    2. Riley is not a defensive coach. SC needs to have a dominant defense in order to vie for a NC with the likes of Alabama. Oklahoma under Riley never made it to the NC game because the SEC put 40+ points on his defenses.
    3. The one thing that is obvious here is that Riley wants an easier path to the CFP, and the Pac-12 is that easy path.
    4. More Air Raid, and another coach Texas Tech QB. Jesus Christ, and we just found our running game.
    5. Bohn better make damn sure Riley understands two things: 1) USC tradition and locking up SoCal recruits. This better not become Oklahoma West. 2) Defense wins championships. Don’t be Lane Kiffin and sign only offensive skill players. Your #1 priority is DLINE and OLINE.

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    2. Riley has been the HC at Oklahoma for the last 4 years and the OC for 2 years before that. In those 6 years, Oklahoma has averaged close to 230 YPG rushing. Check it out.

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  22. Did my man Bon-Bon come through, or what. Not any splash in the pan or chocolate box, the guy has the right stuff.

    Our blog’s Charles R. Smith opined one day that Bon-Bon had been emasculated by that Carol Folt, “not that he had goods to begin with.”

    I questioned Mr. Smith as to how did he find out that Bon-Bon has no goods.

    Well, Charles, your sources were mistaken– it is correction-and-retraction time while there’s still time.

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  23. Alex Grinch has done a pretty good job as DC at OU, and will likely come with Riley. OU’s defense is far better than Orlando’s USC defense.
    This year’s defense is truly unwatchable.

    As above, Grinch took a TERRIBLE Wazzu defensive team and in one year had them in the top 10 (ish) by the end of 2017. They shut down Sam and Rojo in that epic ambush game in the Palouse (when Liam Jimmons pancaked the Wazzu fan on the field).

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  24. How did Bohn do it, you ask? He called all the former USC athletic directors and asked them who they’d hire. They were unanimous: “Hire Riley.”

    Of course they meant Mike Riley…

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  25. If USC can ink this deal, this is the best we Trojan’s could have ever hoped for.

    The defense is gonna be terrible next year–no matter what.
    The cupboard is bare. We have NO LB’s on campus.
    With IPM and Johnson leaving, Bullock and Alford will develop into great safeties. Hopefully Jackson returns and the front 4-5 improve.
    You don’t go from last in the conference on Defense to first “over-night.”

    This is great news.

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    2. I disagree with the cupboard being bare. We have Raesjon Davis and Julien Simon, both need to be coached up, but are great athletes. We have Brandon Pili coming back from injury and maybe Ishmael Sopher actually plays.

      I think we are going to raid the transfer portal and some top players are going to enter the portal with all the coaching changes happening. LSU’s Eli Riks is a top corner up for grabs.

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  27. “ But I will say this again: It was not necessary to have this awful season as a price-to-pay for eventually hiring a big-time coach.”

    It was necessary because it got Riley hired.

    It’s obvious they kept this under wraps that even “Mr Inside USC” had no idea what was going on.

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  28. I told you none of us knew shit about what was going on with the coach search.

    Congrats on wasting hours of your life writing thousand word posts about the Cincinnati guy, the Baylor guy, Penn St guy, Oregon coach, misc NFL dudes and the Mater Dei coach.

    I guess it’s back to being recruiting experts now.

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  30. WOW———–SHOCKER………………..MUST MEAN CAROL FOLT IS VERY ATTRACTED TO LINCOLN, AND NOW SHE CAN WEAR EVEN SHORTER SKIRTS TO MAKE HER LOOK YOUNGER.

    Love Lincoln’s offense………he runs the balls, and throws it with good balance.

    I won’t believe this is going to happen until the day he shows up for the press conference at USC.

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    1. What’s with the fascination of Carol Folt the roaming gnome in a mini skirt on this site. It makes me fucin sic 😖too my stomach. Im hoping she’s gone soon so we don’t have to hear about that ever again.

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  31. Great, now we’ll go for 1 for 4 in our bowl games! lool Kings of the 2 loss season bowl chokers season. Riley may think he’s ducking the SEC, but if he doesn’t upgrade to a real offense and get a better defense the PAC 12 will still turn him into a 2-3 loss a season coach with consistent losses in bowl games even with the improved talent he’ll have access to. I wonder how stubborn he’ll be or how much he’ll want to improve.

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  33. Will have a good offense but none of Riley’s OU teams have been ranked in the top 50 in YPG allowed. This past year ranked 70 in that category one place better than UCLA and 2 below Wazzu. I’m wondering how long before he leaves for the NFL and if he has a clause in his contract that allows it.

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    1. Actually, Riley was the HC from 2017 to 2021 and OC in 2016 and 2015 this is where they finished nationally as far as YPG in those years
      2021 28th
      2020 11th
      2019 3rd
      2018 1st
      2017 1st
      2016 2nd
      2015 7th

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      1. My mistake. I didn’t see they word “allowed”. In that sense you are probably right. But there are probably not too many teams in the big-12 that are high in the “YPG allowed”
        category. The big-12 is kind of a high scoring wild west offensive conference.

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  36. Hopefully Riley starts recruiting as soon as tomorrow. Time to get them 5 stars and top 4 stars in so Cal to USC. Time to get Brown Jackson and Mylek back to USC. It’s about time to build a program. Riley needs to put a fence around so Cal again when it comes to recruiting.

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  37. If the news is true, I just found my inter spirit to FIGHT ON!!!! This is a huge game changer for the program. Recruiting is going to be unreal this December. Riley is a great recruiter.
    This is better than any Christmas gift I could possibly imagine.

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    1. Christmas came early for the realist and rah rahs on this blog. I won’t say haters unless you are a sorry ass UCLA fan like owns rents lease for sale and the rest of the stalking trolls on this blog. They are pissed off right now. They know the ass kicking’s like old times are coming soon and USC will be top 5 in recruiting again.

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    1. Lol I forgot about the jacket in the USC book store smack. That thing was as hideous as a ugly Christmas sweater. As matter of fact you can sport that thing on ugly Christmas sweater day or party, and fit right in. Lol

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  40. If this thing actually goes through, I think all you people on this Scott Wolff forum should rethink your views about Mike Bohn and even Carol Folt. I know that comment is not going to go over well.

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    1. Maybe on Bohn as long as he builds up the Athletic program to standards. But heck no on Folt can’t stand that wok gnome she needs to go back to North Carolina and worry about removing statues.

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      1. But Folt fired a USC legend(golf boy) soon after she started the job and hired a good AD and then backed him up. You may not like Folt but let’s face it, she is head and shoulders above Nakias who really wanted to downgrade the football program because the dumb ex-jocks were making more money than he was.

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  41. I am happy and sad at the same time first Riley is 55&10 at Oklahoma where the wind comes behind the rain. I’m sad because my posts have been disappearing this week so I wrote directly to Scott Wolf to ask why. His reply was, “I don’t moderate and I don’t know who you are” I have been posting on the O.C. Register blog which became his for years. He has used pictures I sent him numerous times. plan
    My plan is to hope the current blog owner retires and a new involved blog owner takes over. Until then I’ll post only if it’s needed.
    Steve Weller
    Aka Minion Trojan
    Aka Me
    Aka Rialto Trojan
    Aka trojandude207
    Etc.

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  42. We finally got a coach that is going to get us back to the top. Lincoln is a winner. Winning percentage 846, urban Meyer 854, Nick Saban 884. He will win the pack 12 next year and then look out after that. He will get five star and four-star players and he will teach them how to get better and get them ready for the NFL. We hit the jackpot with Lincoln.

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