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What does hiring Lincoln Riley mean for USC?
Lincoln Riley's move to USC will affect the USC and Oklahoma Sooners. There is 1:11.
The time is 8:30 PM.
Six years ago, Pat Haden ushered a few reporters into an unglamorous conference room and announced that the school was putting Steve Sarkisian on a leave of absence. On Sunday, Haden announced that Clay Helton would be the interim coach.
It was a turning point. Helton had no head-coaching experience, but his affability and stability made him the ideal candidate to save face. USC needed to save more than just face. It needed to revive its football program. Helton failed to do that six years later. Lynn Swann is also a part of Haden's team.
The USC story for the past decade has been a game of musical chairs at the top, while the guy calling the shots on the field was not able to get USC to the top. New athletic director Mike Bohn has ushered in a clean slate and a blockbuster hire. USC has kicked off a new era by landing Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma as their next head coach. What are the challenges and opportunities that await Riley at USC?
What are the expectations for Riley?
Home run expectations are brought with a home run hire. USC's program has fallen on hard times over the past decade, and hiring a less accomplished coach could be seen as a way to get it back on track. Expectations for success will be more or less immediate with Riley in tow. USC wanted to send a message by hiring Riley, that they are ready to win again at all costs.
USC is still one of the best jobs out there because Riley took the job signals. USC's position on the West Coast and in a conference that's begging for a team to truly dominate makes the potential sky high, even though the name brand and infrastructure have taken a lot of hits. It's why the expectations are for a Pac-12 title and a College Football Playoff spot sooner rather than later. Riley has led Oklahoma to three playoff appearances in four years, while USC has yet to make the playoffs. It will be easier to return to the Pac-12 than it will be to return to Oklahoma once they join the SEC.
USC needs a lot of work to get back on top and it won't be easy, but the experience of new coach Mike Riley means the USC are ready to take the fast lane back to success.
What are the challenges he faces?
USC had gotten in its own way with internal hires, such as athletic directors Pat Haden and Lynn Swann, that backfired on and off the field. There have been a lot of scandals at the university.
The product on the field has been below the USC standard. In the past four seasons, USC has gone 22-20 and has struggled to find consistency and an identity on offense, while losing any semblance of physical presence on defense. The USC has not found a quarterback who brings the level of play and excitement that past quarterbacks have, despite the fact that several quarterbacks, including highly-rated prospects like JT Daniels, have been injured. They're no longer producing All-American linemen who can compete with the SEC and Big Ten powerhouses.
The USC fan base has a general sense of disappointment and apathy. There are pictures of the LA Coliseum every Saturday this season. There has been a positive cultural shift behind the scenes in the past few years, but it will be difficult for Riley to turn that into a reality on the field.
The legacy of Pete Carroll, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and the rest of the teams left behind is no longer fully coasted on by the USC. The people inside the program lacked self-awareness for a long time, as they were losing ground to the rest of the college football world. The new administration is aware of the work that needs to be done and that's why they hired Riley.
It won't be easy. The USC is currently a good place to live. USC has always had the right tools at its disposal, and now Riley will be faced with the burden of fulfilling expectations at a place that has never stopped believing it should be at the top of the college football world.
Can Riley turn around USC's recruiting efforts?
USC has had a hard time keeping its players in the past few years as other blue bloods like Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio State have swooped in. The quarterbacks leading some of the country's top teams are all from California.
Riley, who has coached two quarterbacks, can fix it. He may already be fixing that. Malachi Nelson, a five-star quarterback, committed to Oklahoma. He can still play for Riley. Makai Lemon can. Raleek Brown, a five-star running back from Southern California, said that Riley's move changed everything for him.
Riley's move is a big deal for recruiting. His presence on the West Coast will have a trickle-down effect on other programs. It allows USC to regain ground in the West while being able to recruit nationally at a high level. They are the best team in the country to build a roster to win a national championship, but they have missed out on that opportunity in the past few years. USC has only seven total commitments in the class of 2022, with early signing day a few weeks away. Oklahoma is in the running for a top 10 class.
What does it mean for USC's offense?
USC needs to play a certain way. The Air Raid didn't result in the type of success USC expects, so those voices grew louder. It will be comical to see people who wanted USC to go back to its roots change their minds now that Riley is there.
The way Riley built his roster at Oklahoma is very similar to how USC is constructed. Oklahoma ran the ball more than USC over the past three years. The percentage of Oklahoma's total yards that came through the air was 59.2%. USC has never really embraced the trend of Riley's reliance on more mobile quarterbacks. The USC has had athletic quarterbacks in the past, but no dual threats like the ones at Oklahoma. The expectation is that Riley will prioritize more mobile quarterbacks in the future, despite the fact that Baker Mayfield's success under Riley shows that is not necessarily a requirement.
What does it mean for the conference?
USC was the common solution for the troubles of the Pac-12 over the past several years. USC has the cachet to be a national sensation when it hits on all cylinders, but other schools have not been able to do that in the past.
It's just different when it's happening in Los Angeles than it is when it's happening in Oregon or USC. The value of the conference's media rights deals could be increased by a dominant USC. It adds credibility to the conference that isn't currently present. USC will force other schools to make investments if it reaches its potential.
Those things seem to be possible with Riley on board. His arrival will make it more difficult for teams to win the conference title, but the trickle-down effect should help the conference improve its footing compared to the rest of the country.
