After No. 19 USC's 38-17 win over Northwestern on Friday night, Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley addressed swirling speculation he could look to leave Los Angeles after the season. It wasn't a lengthy statement by any means, but it was direct.
"You guys know what I sacrificed to be here," Riley said. "I'm where I need to be."
Riley was seemingly entrenched as the head coach at Oklahoma when he took the USC job in November 2021, completely and permanently severing relationships he'd built over seven years as a Sooner and his reputation in the state he'd called home since 2015. He later claimed that "a lot of people" tried to break into his house, and that some OU fans acquired the cell phone number of his then- 9-year-old daughter. Riley's decision to leave Oklahoma was such a source of ongoing controversy that he penned an essay in The Players Tribune five months after the fact explaining his side of the story. "Since my move, many have asked me why I would leave Oklahoma, and the best — and most honest — answer is that the opportunity at USC was simply the right job at the right time for me and for my family," he wrote. (Amusingly, it also inspired OU fans, up to an including the governor, to wonder aloud why a multi-millionaire would rather live in Los Angeles than Oklahoma.)
The location has fueled much of the speculation as to why Riley might leave Los Angeles. USC announced its move to the Big Ten seven months after Riley took the job, and he's frequently complained about the travel burden placed on him at USC. That includes this past weekend, when he groaned about having to play a Friday night game the week after a Saturday night affair at Nebraska. (USC won both games.)
With Florida, Auburn, Arkansas and LSU open, it's led some to speculate Riley could pull the rip cord and take an SEC job. Remember, speculation was so loud in the fall of 2021 that Riley would take the LSU job that he was forced to address it in-season. "I'm not going to be the next head coach at LSU," Riley said, truthfully, a day before taking the USC job. Some have also linked Riley to an expected opening at Baylor, along with a not-expected opening at Texas Tech as the No. 8 Red Raiders prepare to host No. 7 BYU in the biggest Red Raider game in nearly two decades.
After an 11-3 debut season, Riley went just 15-11 (9-9 in conference play) over the 2023-24 seasons, but has his Trojans at 7-2 and on the outside of the College Football Playoff race with No. 20 Iowa, at No. 9 Oregon, and UCLA still on the schedule.