The questions aren’t going away any time soon for former Oklahoma head football coach Lincoln Riley. That was the case again as Riley joined ESPN’s College GameDay and was asked why he chose to leave OU to become the new head football coach at USC.
Lincoln Riley says it was hard leaving Oklahoma, but it was the right thing for him and his family.
“It was just the right place at the right time. … This was just too good to pass up.” pic.twitter.com/fR398Nq2dd
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) January 1, 2022
ESPN’s David Pollack asked Riley how hard his decision to leave Oklahoma was.
“It was, I don’t know that I can even describe how hard it was, but executing it was hard. The people there that you love, the relationships, all the great memories. That was the hard part, but this was the right thing for my family, for me professionally. It was just the right place at the right time, and so really had no hesitation about that part of it. Just again I feel like what this can be is I think we’re very uniquely positioned right now with all that’s changing in college football and as you looked ahead, I felt like, man, this was just too good to pass up,” Riley said.
Riley takes over a USC program that ended its 2021 season with a 4-8 record. The Trojans lost six of their last seven games and finished the season on a four-game losing streak.
Riley is also looking to find another assistant coach after reports surfaced yesterday that former OU assistant coach Jamar Cain would no longer be following Riley to USC. Instead, Cain is reportedly off to join Brian Kelly’s staff at LSU as the Tigers’ defensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Cain coached outside linebackers and defensive ends at Oklahoma.
While Riley shipped off to Hollywood, Oklahoma hired its top target to be its next head football coach in former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
“I’m honored and I’m humbled to stand with you and before you today as your next head football coach here at Oklahoma. Again, one of the winningest and storied, tradition-rich programs in the history of college football,” Venables said on Dec. 6 in his introduction ceremony inside the Everest Center in Norman.
If what Riley was referring to with his comments about college football changing was OU and Texas moving to the SEC, then Oklahoma fans can feel good that they have the right head coach to lead them into the nation’s toughest conference and into the future.
“Now, taking the lead and also taking it through one of the biggest transitions in the history of college football. Taking Oklahoma from the Big 12 to the SEC, you’ve got your guy to take you on this journey. Also, make no mistake about it. Oklahoma has been and always will be the measuring stick in college football. We will employ an exciting, fast, explosive and diverse offense combined with a physical, punishing, suffocating defense,” Venables said.
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How did social media respond to Lincoln Riley’s departure for USC?
