Oklahoma football: Will Lincoln Riley join the Sooners 100-win club?

Oklahoma football has a long history as an offensive juggernaut, but since Lincoln Riley took up residence in Norman, Oklahoma, the Sooner offense has gone to another level.

Since Riley has been a member of the Sooner coaching staff, Oklahoma has compiled a record of 58-10, a .966 winning percentage, reached the College Football Playoff in four of five seasons, won five consecutive Big 12 championships, and produced Heisman winning quarterbacks in back-to-back years and a third as a Heisman runner-up.

None of that is by coincidence. Riley was already recognized as one of the brightest young offensive minds in college football, when Bob Stoops reached out to him five years ago when he was the offensive coordinator at East Carolina University and inquired about his interest in joining the Sooner staff in the same capacity. The rest is well-documented history.

When Stoops decided to retire in the spring of 2017, it opened the door for Riley to move into the lead role (which some believe was part of the master plan all along, just not perhaps that quickly), and he wasted little time in seizing the opportunity and ensuring a seamless transition.

It should also be noted, however, that Stoops handed Riley a full deck and a cupboard that remained loaded with college talent, something that is rarely the case when a new head coach is brought in.

Riley’s record in his first three seasons as the Oklahoma head coach is 36-6 (.857). That’s the most wins in the first three seasons of any of the 21 Sooner head coaches that came before him. It is not, however, the best winning percentage after the first three seasons. Barry Switzer’s record after three seasons was a phenomenal 32-1-1, a winning percentage of .956. Bud Wilkinson’s first three Sooner teams were a combined 28-2-2 (.906).

Riley has enjoyed three consecutive 12-win seasons as a head coach. Assuming there is a 2020 season and it is a full 12 or 13-game season, Riley should be closing in on 50 wins as the head of one of college football’s historically elite programs and halfway to 100 wins, which would put him in an exclusive club as one of five Oklahoma football coaches with at least 100 wins.

Oklahoma currently is the only college football program that can boast four different coaches who achieved 100-plus wins. Stoops leads the club with 190 career wins at Oklahoma, followed by Switzer with 157; Wilkinson 147, and Bennie Owen, who coached the Sooners from 1905 to 1926, with 122.

Only time will tell if Riley is able to reach the 100-win level while at Oklahoma. He is currently on pace to go over the century mark in wins, but he would probably have to stay in the job for another six or seven years and average at least 10 wins a season to do so. None of the four members of the Sooner 100-win club remained in the job fewer than 16 seasons.

It took Stoops 10 seasons to reach 100 wins. Wilkinson and Switzer both hit the century mark after 11 seasons. It’s not really a question whether Riley could win 100 games at Oklahoma. The real question is whether he will be there long enough to do so.

The 36-year-old Oklahoma head coach is already drawing interest from NFL teams. Riley has had the same response both in 2018 and again last season when his name came up as a potential NFL Both times he has said: “I’m never going to stand here and say ‘no way’.”..but for right now, “I love Oklahoma. I love football. I love coaching college football.”

There is one thing we are fairly certain of as it pertains to Riley’s future. As long as he keeps winning, the job at Oklahoma will be his for as long as he wants it.