Lincoln Riley to LSU rumors, revisited ahead of game vs. USC

Former Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley appeared to possibly be a contender for the LSU job that eventually went to Brian Kelly. Or was he?

Now at USC, Riley is set to take on the Tigers in Las Vegas on Sunday, which prompts a remembrance back to the night during the 2021 season after the Sooners fell to in-state rival Oklahoma State, which finished hours before he took the Trojans job.

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There was speculation Riley could be in play for the high-profile SEC job that was opened after LSU fired Ed Orgeron midseason. But as we know now, Riley was set on the USC job. Even that night, LSU reporters had traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to ask Riley about LSU rumors. Riley was even asked if he was taking the LSU job postgame.

At the time, Riley was considered one of the top college football coaches nationally, as he led the Sooners to three College Football Playoff appearances, including coaching two Heisman Trophy winners.

Here’s a look back at the Riley to LSU rumors, and how he eventually ended up at USC:

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Lincoln Riley to LSU rumors, revisited

Riley’s rumors to LSU started heating up in the lead up to Oklahoma’s regular season finale loss to Oklahoma State, eventually leading to him being asked of his potential interest in the job.

“No, I’m not going to be the next head coach at LSU,” Riley said.

Riley didn’t technically lie, but he didn’t necessarily tell the truth per se about his next move, as Riley was reported to be taking the job at USC the next morning.

The reporter asked Riley a follow up question about the future of Oklahoma’s administration.

“No concerns about our administration, our AD, our president,” Riley said. “We’ve been through a lot together. This isn’t our first rodeo together. So we always have conversations about the future and certainly with all that’s changing right now on the college landscape, all that’s getting ready to change.

“For us at some point here, we transition into a new conference. Those are always conversations that we’re going to have, and we will be having those yearly, no matter what. All of us are trying to make this place better, make this program better, and so you don’t do that without working together and conversing with each other. So of course we’re gonna continue to do that. We work well together, and we’re going to keep working well together.”

In the week leading up to the game, Riley was asked about the job in his weekly press conference.

“There’s nothing to handle,” Riley said. “It’s pretty easy. I coach the University of Oklahoma football team. You guys know how I feel about this place and this program. We’ve all been down this road many times before. You guys know where I stand on that and that hasn’t changed.”

Riley has maintained his stance that his decision to leave Oklahoma for USC happened in the hours after Bedlam that season, noting such in writing in The Player’s Tribune. He says he didn’t have contact with USC until after the game, which ended at nearly midnight Sunday morning.

“Everything that happened next was a blur,” Riley wrote. “I jumped on a Zoom with USC officials, I informed our athletic director, Joe Castiglione, of my decision and then, in one of the most difficult moments of my life and career, I stood in front of our Oklahoma team to let them know that I was leaving. I saw the immediate consequences of my decision on the faces of our players.

“I really hated the timing, because our team was coming off a gut-wrenching loss, but with the recent rule changes in college football impacting the recruiting cycle, it certainly affected the timeline and made a difficult transition even tougher. Shortly after that meeting, USC announced the news, and my family and I were on our way to Los Angeles.”

Lincoln Riley tried to avoid LSU matchup

Now, Riley is set to face LSU with USC, which is one of the top matchups in Week 1 of the college football season. However, it nearly didn’t happen.

Earlier in the offseason, Saturday Down South reported USC tried to get out of its game against the Tigers for nearly two years because Riley didn’t want the game, according to the report. The USC administration was trying to get out of the game even after hiring former Washington athletic director Jen Cohen, the report added.

Another source told Saturday Down South that “more than 10 games” would have to be changed in order to accommodate for USC’s wishes. The report also added that Riley, who’s represented by the same agent as Kelly, even asked for him to help convince Kelly for LSU to drop the game for a different opponent.