Jamar Cain posted a heartfelt goodbye to Oklahoma after the Sooners’ Alamo Bowl win over Oregon on Wednesday, as everyone knew he was following former OU coach Lincoln Riley to USC.
Or at least that was the plan …
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel and The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Friday evening that Cain is now set to become LSU’s defensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Cain had previously changed the background on his Twitter profile to include the USC logo and his name over “USC Trojan Football,” so there was no ambiguity about his plans at one point.
One can only presume that LSU has come in with over-the-top offer that Cain couldn’t pass up.
Cain spent the last two seasons at Oklahoma, after previously coaching the defensive line at Arizona State (2019), Fresno State (2017-18) and North Dakota State (2014-16).
He is the second USC assistant coach to renege on the Trojans, following RBs coach Tashard Choice, who was hired away from Georgia Tech and took part in a USC recruiting weekend before leaving abruptly for a job at Texas.
Both positions now remain unfilled on Riley’s otherwise complete staff — at least that is the understanding, though nothing can be assumed at this point.
Coaching contracts often take some time to get completed at a university level, and college football has become more of a free-for-all spending arms race than ever before, so situations like this may become more and more frequent in the sport.