Ahead of his first season in Southern California, USC coach Lincoln Riley addressed the once-rampant speculation concerning his possible interest in coaching at LSU or in the NFL.
Riley recently sat down with ESPN to discuss a wide array of topics, one of which included a question about whether or not he took a call from the Tigers prior to leaving Oklahoma in November. The former Sooners coach confirmed he did not have any involvement in LSU’s coaching search, which ended with the hire of Brian Kelly two days after USC announced Riley as its 30th head coach.
“No, and I’ve told people this all the time,” he said, per ESPN’s Chris Low. “I learned this from Mike Leach, and he probably still says it. You’re on one of two lists as a head coach. You’re on a list to get fired or you’re on a list of other people wanting to hire you. And he’s right. I never had one year at Oklahoma where people didn’t call in-season. I never subjected myself to it. It’s never rocked me. It’s never had anything to do with me doing my job.
“I’ve taken one phone call in seven years at OU, and it was the USC phone call after the Oklahoma State game. That’s the only phone call I’ve ever taken—ever. I didn’t take one NFL call. I didn’t take any of them.”
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Riley doubled down on his answer after explaining that, while his agent handled the calls during that time, he did not allow the outside noise to distract him from doing his job. The Sooners finished the 2021 season 11–2 with a 7–2 record in the Big 12, and went on to defeat Oregon in the Alamo Bowl.
“I always felt like I was able to stay focused on the task at hand,” Riley said. “Nobody ever said a word about it when the NFL teams were calling, and we were winning a bunch. I’m a professional. I’m going to do the job I’m assigned to do. Plus, especially now, there are no secrets. If I would have engaged with those guys before [the season ended], people would’ve known. And, again, the people that know me know I would never do that.”
Riley, the 2018 Big 12 Coach of the Year, led OU to a 55–10 overall record and four conference championships during his five-year tenure with the university. Earlier this month, he explained his decision to leave the program after denying Oklahoma’s upcoming move to the SEC played a role.
“I heard the whole SEC narrative,” Riley told CBS Sports. “To me, the SEC has nothing to do with it. It’s all about the program that you’re at and the position you think you can get to.”
