Lincoln Riley Hire Changed Landscape of College Football, USC AD Mike Bohn Says

It's safe to say USC is pretty excited about its hiring of former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley. 

 "It was never our goal to change the landscape of college football with one of the biggest moves in the history of the game, but we did exactly that," USC athletic director Mike Bohn told reporters on Wednesday at Riley's introductory press conference. 

While Riley's contractual terms with USC haven't been released publicly, it's a safe bet that he's receiving a healthy raise over the $7.6 million per year he would have received from Oklahoma through Jan. 2026 had he remained in Norman. 

Listen to Bohn on Monday, however, and it became abundantly clear that the Trojans believe he's worth every penny. 

"The fact we landed our top candidate and one of the top coaches in all of college football was not an accident," he told reporters.

Riley sounded equally excited about the opportunity.

"We came here because we believe in what this place can be, and that will be done with the players on the field," he told reporters about his decision to leave Oklahoma for USC. "To win championships, to get this program where we know and believe it should be, it's going to take all of us."

Riley, 38, will be going from an Oklahoma program where he had consistent success—and a school that will be joining the SEC in 2025—to a proud USC program that has fallen out of relevance nationally since Pete Carroll departed for the Seattle Seahawks following the 2009 season. 

Under Riley, Oklahoma has gone 55-10 in five seasons, won four Big-12 titles and played in three College Football Playoffs.

"He made a personal decision," Oklahoma president Joe Harroz told reporters regarding Riley's departure. "Were we disappointed? Absolutely. And that disappointment lasts until you realize you've now got to move forward. I mean, we'd like more notice."

Former head coach Bob Stoops will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2021 season.

USC, meanwhile, has never appeared in a CFP game, has won just one Pac-12 title since the Carroll era and has only appeared in three Pac-12 title games.

USC has also recycled head coaches at an alarming rate in the last decade, including Lane Kiffin (2010-13), Steve Sarkisian (2014-15) and Clay Helton (2015-20). Ed Orgeron and Helton also served as interim head coaches in the 2013 season.  

The hope is that Riley will end that trend and return USC to the sort of prominence the school enjoyed under Carroll, which included six conference titles and two national championships.