FOOTBALL

USC Morning Buzz: Can Anything Be Done With Lincoln Riley?

I spoke to a Big 12 coach on Sunday about Lincoln Riley.

“How many more years does he have on his contract?” the coach asked.

“Seven,” I replied.

“They made a deal with the devil,” the coach said.

This is the bind USC got itself into when Mike Bohn and Brandon Sosna were getting high-fives from everyone for giving Riley that 10-year contract worth at least $100 million.

USC is stuck with Riley unless it wants to do something like Texas A&M, which bought out Jimbo Fisher for $77.6 million.

What’s galling is USC let Riley twist their arms into building him a new football complex and tore down Dedeaux Field. That’s money that could have gone to a buyout.

Would USC athletic director Jen Cohen have the guts to make a move? Would USC president Carol Folt approve it?

Did Bohn and Co. include a smaller buyout in Riley’s contract? It’s doubtful to be significantly less given the leverage he had when he left Oklahoma.

So USC is left with a guy who is 5-9 in his past 14 games, is not a leader of men and is getting exposed by Big Ten football. He can’t even get his team to play a full four quarters of football.

He also has a problem with telling the truth, like when he said recruiting in California is a top priority but doesn’t really deal with Mater Dei or St. John Bosco.

Two things are true: Riley has a huge contract. USC cannot tolerate losing like this.

Maybe the schedule will bail Riley out.

  • See what happens when you have a special teams coach?
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    32 thoughts on “USC Morning Buzz: Can Anything Be Done With Lincoln Riley?”

    1. Tired about hearing how Riley was exposed by Big Ten football. He was already exposed by Pac 12 football. He came from the defense optional Big 12.

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    2. Riley’s going to say that he’s lost 4 games by a total of 14 points, he’s four plays from being undefeated, blah, blah, blah.

      What he won’t say is he’s the one who has clusterf’ed the games away in the end, refuses to play a more mobile QB, refuses to run the ball and has totally ruined an electric returner by not having a special teams coach.

      I won’t even go into his absolute refusal to embrace USC in any way.

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      1. Budda,

        I am going to man up and say that you were and are correct about Riley. I doubted you and I thought Riley would be good. I am wrong. I stand corrected. I remember you calling him mule shoes. Well, the title fits.

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    3. Scooter,

      Hoping Jen, Taco Lita Queen, Cohen smells the burrito and gets her act together and make a comment about Riley and SC football. She has not made on comment about the state of SC football since she has been here. Her and Folt the Dolt need to have their feet held to the hot coals. Big time boosters need to organize and tell them that funding will stop until they fix the problem. This season is lost but they can plan for the following season.

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    4. Demote CLR to QB coach or to special team coach.
      Promote Entz to head coach.
      don’t pay buyout, he would resign himself due to his pride if he has

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      1. He isn’t going to be demoted to OC or whatever, no way. But if Cohen makes his life hard like DEMANDING he attend functions, get an OL coach who can coach, a special teams coach and other things to make him uncomfortable, he might bail.

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    5. Well, he’s probably going to get a few more years to prove me wrong or cement that he’s in over is head because I doubt SC buys him out.

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    8. To quote Charlie Brown- “we are doomed” I truly felt once we got rid of Helton, better days were ahead. I mean, no way could we be worse off. But we are. Strapped to that hellish contract- LR will probably hole up in his own little world, continue to ignore the fans/boosters and plug along making his money. The only good thing is LR’s excuse train wont work anymore- I hope to God every beat write holds him to task after ever loss- which there will be plenty of- except this Friday when we play a high school team that Ucla beat on the road. I can see LR’s quote now. “I feel great about this win. We competed and executed. So proud of our guys coming together to get this win- this is what SC football is all about” God, please put us out of our misery and have this guy do the conscionable thing and quit- ya right….

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    9. If they don’t pull the plug on Riley, his radioactivity will keep recruits away fo years to come and hence – dig a deeper hole than the one we’re already in.

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      1. SC charges people to run out of the tunnel with the team

        SC charges people to tailgate on campus

        SC is all about money, no way they pay this incompetent clown 70+ million to go away.

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    10. Riley is a Big 12 coach who has built a Big 12 team. Here is part of an article from the OC Register on his recruiting of players from Mater Dei. None of Mater Dei’s top 13 committed 2025 and 2026 recruits have chosen USC, and USC has correspondingly offered scholarships to only three of them. Since Raul Lara took over the head job at Mater Dei in April after Frank McManus’ firing, USC coaches have appeared on the Santa Ana campus only once – and haven’t stopped by since the spring, according to several Mater Dei staffers who spoke with the Southern California News Group.

      “But, our kids seen Dan Lanning two weeks ago,” Mater Dei receivers coach James Griffin said, referring to the Oregon head coach. “So. You know what I mean?” Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State and Penn State have visited multiple times.

      This is a problem.

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      1. Cohen ” You need to recruit Mater Dei and SJB kids “

        Riley ” Yeah ok. “

        Cohen ” I mean it “

        Riley ” Yeah, ok. “

        Cohen ” ” I’ll take away your personal driver if you don’t “

        Riley ” Yeah, ok “

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    11. SC defense is doing well enough for SC to win. The offense can’t seem to get to 3/game and over. If they had they would be undefeated. Many including my self thought Miller Moss could get that done,35+ /game. He hasn’t and apparently is not good enough to get SC to 35 and over. there is a decent chance a 2 q/b system could work John McKay did it in 1962. Nelson and Beathard led SC to a national championship and ’63 Rose Bowl win.He used the one having the best game.SC should have been preparing Maiava since spring ball,and putting him in games when Miller was struggling. It is almost too late now…BUT I would give it a try ,he can’t do worse than Moss as of late. If they don’t SC will be lucky to finish 6-6.

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    12. SC would not pony up the relatively small buy-out for Ton-o-Hel so fans had to put up with him for 7 long years. It looks like Wiley will be falling into that same category, namely, too expensive for SC to fire at $70-million or so

      However, Wiles has improved, at least he now recognizes that ‘defense’ is part of the game. But this not recruiting California kids is worrisome or is it in part because SC’s NIL approach is wanting

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    13. Not sure where the balance of our wins will happen this season. If LR has lost the locker room, then it really is over. But all the warning signs are there… we’ve fired every previous HC who wore a visor…

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    14. Wiles is not going to break in a new quarterback halfway through the season although inserting the new kid in certain spots would be interesting to see. especially with Miller-Time probably moving on after this Season.

      If only Celeb had stayed another year, all 4 of SC’s losses probably could have been salvaged by him

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    15. Scooter, SC fans, and dodger fans,

      Who do you want to win the World Series? I want the Yankees to win. The reason is not only my hate for the dodgers, but as a SC fan I am cheering for the Yankees because Arron Boone played catcher at SC and is probably an SC alum. I don’t want no stinkin” ruin manager to win the world series. Roberts sucks because of his afflilation of being a ruin.

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    16. In 1958 the decision to move to L.A. was between the Dodgers and Cardinals and I was going to ‘adopt’ whichever team it was, but truth is I was more of a fan when playing baseball than now although ‘O’ aka ‘Slug’ piqued my renewed interest

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    17. The new football complex that Wolf bemoans was actually a good idea. Take a look at the elite programs football facilities, they are state of the art with all of the bells and whistles. A 17-19 year old is swayed by such things and a facility that competes with the likes of Oregon, Georgia, and Alabama is necessary to attract big time recruits…Of course a big time coach is also necessary and we are found to be lacking.

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