FOOTBALL

Morning Buzz: Some New Details On Lincoln Riley Hiring

Details on the hiring of Lincoln Riley will leak out in time and I heard an interesting tidbit on Wednesday.

Sources told me that USC sent board chairperson Rick Caruso and legendary tailback Marcus Allen to personally court Riley before he accepted the job.

This is interesting for two reasons: Caruso’s involvement backs up other sources that he was strongly involved, which illustrates how committed (financially and otherwise) the university was to hiring a star coach. It’s unprecedented.

And it marks a return for Allen, who has been largely absent from USC since attending a spring practice reunion of former players in 2016. He even skipped his bobblehead giveaway in 2016 at the USC-Utah State, instead attending a Raiders game. In 2019 he attended LSU games during their championship season.

Allen was also part of the group of former players a search firm consulted during the fall about hiring a new football coach.

51 thoughts on “Morning Buzz: Some New Details On Lincoln Riley Hiring”

      2. EXCEPT……. for….. Vincent telling Bridget Fonda “you wanted to see gambling —that’s gambling”—
        AND… Vincent taking care of Joe Mantegna by saying his last name as he fires the last bullet (“Zaza “) —-a true Sicilian way of saying goodbye.

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      5. You know the answer? When LAPD arrests assholes it should take them by the neck to the Criminal Courts Building, take the elevator to the D. A.’s floor, walk past the secretary at the front desk and deposit them on the District Attorney cherry wood desk with the words, “they’re all yours now, dipshit.”

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  2. Rick Caruso, and Marcus Allen may have to assist Lincoln Riley with recruiting assistant coaches too, especially if he’s thinking about keeping Graham Harrell, or anyone else from the previous staff.

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  3. Caruso for LA mayor! We need a strong business republican to clean up the streets of LA

    Gascon and Garcetti have the streets overrun with a crime wave the likes of which the city has never seen. It’s open season for thugs, gang bangers, thieves, rapists etc

    Overthrow these radical liberal scumbags and rule the city with law and order!

    To that end, Riley needs to purge The McKay Center of all similar types. Players and coaches. Any goons who skipped Games and practice. Any coaches like Orlando engaged in illegal substances. Any coaches blasting rap music at practice. Good start pushing thugs like Falaniko Chase Williams and Echols out the door. L Riley must continue the purge until our proud program is restored to honor

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    1. Totally agree!! Send these twits to Georgia Southern Junior College
      where that dimwit Helton will spin more BS on the new Hires..

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  4. Early birds & worms. Me and the hermanos* were strongly encouraged and/or brainwashed** to be up and out the door by first light for 4 kinda of days: fishing trips, travel day on camping trips to Cachuma, birthday, and work days. l shit you not, God forbid I something happens, and I sleep until something crazy, like lets say 7AM, I feel like a fuckin hobo. Could’ve been out til 430am saving babies all night in a tornado, wouldn’t matter. 7am? Hobo.

    Anyway, time to put the not-as-smart-as-they-sayphonr down, Suns gonna be here soon. Interesting backstory on the hiring. Reminds of that saying: “Never judge a book by its cover. Unless it is a technical manual.”

    *spellck just tried to insert “hermaphrodites” in lieu of “hermanos”. glad I didn’t let that dude at the phone store talk me into the dumbphone plan.

    **if any were wondering, i’m told it was the loving kinda brainwashing, so that’s cool.

    My Czech gma and the ol man loved listening to talk radio first thing. Me? I go radio silent mode until im in the rig. That pt fwd 100% music, Its too early for xmas tunes, but not too early for songs that could be construed as a xmas song in a pinch.

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    2. There’s this Sicilian writer named Michael Ventura who used to write a column for the L. A. Weekly—a guy who writes bunches of words so beautiful that he can slip a James Baldwin quote in the middle and it doesn’t look outta place — you , boxisbento, just wrote a bunch of words that would make Ventura proud.

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      1. Exactly, MG

        Boxisbento lost me after “Early birds and worms’ although I did get the quip about not judging a book by its cover unless it is a technical manual.

        Oh, and MG, you are my wife Carol’s new hero. She felt like giving you a standing ovation for your views on how to handle nasty L.A. criminals. Carol, a licensed psychologist of 30 years, surprises me at times with her hard-line on dangerous criminals. But as you have experienced in dealing with these bad guys, Carol has seen their effects on good women and others.

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  6. I posted this yesterday, it’s from 24/7 about who Riley has hired so far.

    Roy Manning DB’s ( coaches’ CB’s )
    Jamar Cain LB’s ( coached OLB’s and DE’s at OU )
    Zach Hanson TE’s ( has also coached OL, WR’s and special teams )
    Dave Nichol WR’s ( has also coached OL, QB”s)
    Alex Grinch DC ( coaches’ safeties )
    Dennis Simmons WR’s

    I saw a tweet from the Nevada OL commit who had the new OU coach in his house, as well as Riley’s old OL coach, Bedenbaugh. I don’t think he’s coming to USC.

    If Riley keeps Harrell, that’s three guys on his staff that he’s buddies with, not a good sign. There is no OL or DL coach yet, unless Hanson or Nichol is the new OL coach,, not a good sign since that’s the biggest need for USC right now.

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    1. karma — I think you’re on to something big. I’m asking myself why there hasn’t been an announcement on next year’s O-line coach…. and the answer I keep coming up with ain’t pretty: a big name O-Line coach is gonna look at the situation Helton created (namely, assembling a bunch of mostly unmotivated, mainly unskilled players) and say to himself, “do I really wanna leave a good situation for a thankless, shit situation?” I think we’re seeing the answer to that question play out this week.

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      1. Rumors are that Jeff Lebby, Ole Miss OC under Kiffin, is going to OU. If that is correct, I think we have a real chance at Bedenbaugh. He was an assistant OC under Reilly and was probably expecting to be promoted to the OC upon Reilly’s departure.

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      2. Man, do I HOPE you’re right on that. At the risk of offending Smackyd —it will be great, among 100 other things, for RECRUITING.
        #There!ISaidIt!

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  7. We can only hope he gets the job

    ” According to a report from John Canzano of the Oregonian on Wednesday evening, the Oregon Ducks have requested permission to interview California head football coach Justin Wilcox. Wilcox, 45 years old, just finished his fourth season coaching the Golden Bears as their head coach. He has compiled a 26-28 record as a head coach, and he’s 15-25 in Pac-12 play. The Bears saw improvement in each of his first three seasons. In 2017, the Bears went 5-7 and they won two games in Pac-12 play. The following year California made a bowl game and won seven games. Wilcox led the Bears to their second straight bowl game for the first time in 10 years when Cal went 8-5 in 2019. The Bears have since gone 6-10 in their last two seasons, which have been impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic. “

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  8. Wolf missed this

    USC star wide receiver Drake London is declaring for the 2022 NFL Draft, he announced Wednesday. The junior is a projected first-round pick.

    London had 88 catches for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games before he was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to an ankle fracture. The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder finished his USC career with 2,153 yards and 15 touchdowns on 160 receptions.

    “It’s been a true blessing to compete as a Trojan over the past three seasons,” London said in a statement. “You welcomed me with open arms and I will forever be grateful for the love you’ve shown me.”

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      2. You’re right, karma. I was selfishly thinking of what’s best for USC —not Drake.
        #I’mFamousAroundTheHouseForThinkingThatWay…[Selfishly]

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    2. Pardon my wonk,
      But……

      London did not get to play much his freshman year–2019
      Had trouble breaking into a lineup that included Amon Ra, Vaughns, Pittman, JR. It is also quite conceivable that the Head Coach at the time did not think Drake had any talent.

      PLayed 6 games in 2020 due to the pandemic.
      Played 7.5 games in 2021 due to ankle (I thought it was kind of a dirty tackle in the endzone by the UA DB).

      So Drake had 2100 yards in 21.5 games as a Trojan, 15 TD’s in 21 games, and 160 catches. The guy was MONEY.

      It would be nice to know the extent of the ankle injury and which soft tissues were (if) injured along with the extend of the bone destruction.
      Doubtful Drake will get a pro day at USC and the Combine seems out of the question.

      Average game for #15 during his career: 8 receptions, 100 yards, 3/4 of a TD. Not bad for basically a Soph in terms of experience.

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      1. What’d ya have to go and say all that for? Now I’m even sorrier that we won’t have him next year.
        Question: How long does a receiver like Drake last in the NFL? He basically goes to war every time he catches a ball. He’s the receiver version of Seattle’s great running back, the inscrutable Mr. Lynch.

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  9. hello folks, the nba problems, well doncic does not care for the refs .well why its a league run by black folks and are discriminating against you doncic ! that along with being stupid ?? is there any fair skinned players being recruited by aahhh riley i see pictures of dumb looking football players mostly what shade dark??????? where was mckenzie on the wash st plane trip?????????? sincerely, E

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  11. Maybe Rick Caruso should be our new offensive coordinator!!

    Let’s hope Oregon is stupid enough to hire Justin Wilcox as their new head coach. The life of Riley at USC will be much easier if Wilcox goes to Oregon.

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    1. If Wilcox goes to Oregon the Pac 12 should seriously consider ending the idea of a Pac 12 Championship game and just make the winner of the South Pac 12 Champion….

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  12. Off topic, aren’t we all, but Yesterday U had a great idea yesterday. Yesterday– of course.

    He reminded us that Kiffin had a Tennessee Sewage Treatment Plant named in his honor after the ‘Old Kiffer’ sneaked out of Knoxville
    to bring his particular type of magic to SC

    Next up was Riley, you know, the new SC coach.
    Anyway, those good folks in Norman named a highway after Riles,
    but confined it to several inches of the highway. Pretty bush if you ask me.

    Finally, Yesterday suggested renaming Skid Row in Helton’s honor. You know, something like “Unfortunates and Helton Row.”

    Another suggestion was to have an L.A. cemetery, anyone will do,
    place a plaque at its entrance reading:

    The Helton Cemetery
    Where His Coaching Prowess
    Lie in Peace

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    2. He doesn’t deserve a whole cemetery — but maybe a crematorium….
      #InHonorOfHisAccomplishments
      [Hot off the presses: Georgia Southern’s cross-eyed prick A. D. referred yesterday to Helton as “The Once and Future King”]…..
      #…OhShiiiiittt..

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  13. If Aranda ends up at Oregon, we are screwed. Lincoln Riley is a really great coach, but Aranda is in another league. Defense will always trump offense.

    USC probably wanted a coach who is all about the Hollywood glitter, but in the process, if they didnt put Aranda as coach #1, then they blew it.

    And the way they are managing the introduction of new staff and departure of old staff is horrible. The person in charge of USC communications should be fired. Is Tim Tessalone gone? Whoever is managing things is doing a horrible job.

    Even worse would be Aranda to UCLA. But I have to say that the Pac-12 might actually start to be competitive. USC fans should not cheer the departure of Cristobal at Oregon. His teams always under-performed their talent level. Now Oregon might actually hire a better coach.

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    1. Agree that Aranda at Oregon would not be good news. The question is why would he go there after he supposedly rejected all the other top level schools. The money offered would be in the same ball park, so I don’t think that would be the reason unless as Tomlin said “they throw $250M at me”. I would be surprised if he went. I believe that he will give Baylor a go in the coming year and will reassess after that. I think he beieves that he needs at least one more year to satisfy himself that he’s ready for the prime time jobs.
      It reminds me of Kiffin at Tennessee. I wished, at that time, that he would’ve had another year there to prove what he could do as a HC in college. He had a successful year but could he show imrovement from one year to the next. The timing was wrong for him and SC as born out by what eventually happened. He just needed more time to mature.
      Sark on the other hand was just plain laziness on the part of Haden. Sark’s established record there did not warrant a look for the SC job.

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  14.   So far, I like what Riley is doing. We’re seeing a lot of SC de-commits and entering into the transfer portal. That just tells me that Riley is cleaning house. He wants to start from scratch. He’s telling these guys that it is time to move on.   One thing that makes me think that is because when they first hired Riley, reporters asked Kevin Green, the receiver recruit from Alemany(who was a commit) what he thought about this new situation at SC. He said that he was excited and couldn’t hardly wait to start playing in this new offense. A week later he de-committed.   The only way you will go from excited to de-committed is if somebody has told you that you just don’t fit in and they are going in a different direction. But he wouldn’t be getting rid of people unless he was confident that he could replace them. So he must think that he will be able to bring in a lot of new talent.

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  15. Pingback: If It’s Friday, It’s Time For A USC Notes Column – InsideUSC with Scott Wolf

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