Before fleeing Oklahoma in the dark of the night, Lincoln Riley established himself as one of the best coaches in college football and one of the preeminent offensive designers in the entire sport. During his five years as the head coach in Norman, Riley posted a 55-10 record with four Big 12 titles, three College Football Playoff appearances, and two Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks.
He guided a third QB to a Heisman Trophy, helping Caleb Williams to win it in his first season at USC after following Riley out west. However, that’s the only real hardware he’s collected. He failed to win a Pac-12 title, has yet to win one in the Big Ten, and over his first four seasons, the Trojans have gone just 35-18.
He left to avoid a move to the SEC and presumably to improve his national championship chances, but he hasn’t won a thing. An elite 2026 ecruiting class may be the only thing staving off a simmering hot seat conversation. Yet, in speaking with Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports at the Big Ten’s spring meetings in Southern California, Riley is as confident as ever.
Riley didn’t simply announce the opening of USC’s championship window; he declared himself “a lot better coach than at any point at Oklahoma.”
"I'm a lot better coach than at any point at Oklahoma."
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) May 19, 2026
Lincoln Riley sounds like a different man at USC. After signing the nation's No. 1 class and retaining 15 starters, he believes USC's time is now.
Our conversation at Big Ten spring meetings: https://t.co/5q49uyWjFg pic.twitter.com/6bOQJwcPPL
Lincoln Riley’s bold proclamations could blow up in his face
Riley’s results certainly don’t paint the picture of a better coach than the one who led the Sooners to multiple CFPs. A move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, which now has a real argument as the best league in college football after producing the last three national champions, certainly played a major part in his struggles. Still, that’s far from the sole reason.
In the conversation with Marcello, Riley admitted to a major misstep early in his USC tenure, leaning too heavily on the Transfer Portal ahead of Williams’s final season in college after winning 11 games in 2022. Since then, USC has recommitted its efforts to high school recruiting and retention, which has taken quite a bit of time.
Time is not a luxury that most coaches have in an era when it took Curt Cignetti two years to turn Indiana into an undefeated national champion. Yet, USC has been patient with Riley. Now, he’s proclaiming that he’s an improved coach at the start of a burgeoning window of title contention.
If it doesn’t work, and this team, with its impressive retention rates and the No. 1 high school class in the country, struggles to break through to the upper echelon of the Big Ten, he could quickly find himself in one of the hottest seats in the country.
Riley is talking a big game. And maybe he is a better coach than during his days at Oklahoma. He should be better with four more years of experience. Still, it’s got to be a hilarious thing for an Oklahoma fan to hear after Brent Venables led the Sooners to a CFP last season, while Riley is no closer to winning it all than he was at Oklahoma.
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