Lincoln Riley Denies Rumors He'll Leave USC After 2025 Season, 'Where I Need to Be'

Amid speculation that he could be a candidate for some of the notable job openings when this season ends, Lincoln Riley dismissed rumors that he is going to leave USC.

Asked about the situation, Riley told reporters he is "where I need to be" with USC.

Buzz about his future picked up steam on Wednesday when ESPN's Josh Pate said on Bussin' With the Boys to "keep an eye on" Riley and USC.

In the aftermath of Riley's surprise decision to leave Oklahoma for USC in November 2021, he sat down with ESPN's Chris Low to explain the appeal of the Trojans job:

"Every coach in any job is going to look at what kind of roster do they think they can build, and I don't think anywhere is positioned like this place is to build an elite roster. Most of college football fits into small market, average-to-good academics and then your varying degrees of different programs. The combination here of the elite academics and you've got a proven football history—it's been done here—and then that big L.A. market, all of that ... I just don't know of anywhere else that has those three."

USC has been up and down with Riley as head coach. He won 11 games in his first season before going a combined 15-11 in 2023 and 2024. The Trojans are currently 7-2 this season and ranked 19th in the first College Football Playoff top 25 released this week.

LSU, Penn State, Florida, Auburn and Oklahoma State are among the notable Power 4 schools that have already made an in-season coaching firing.

Even if Riley doesn't end up leaving USC, the number of high-profile job openings certainly gives him a lot of leverage to potentially negotiate a new deal with the program.

When Matt Rhule was mentioned as a potential candidate for the Penn State job, Nebraska gave him a two-year contract extension that included a $15 million buyout this year to make it virtually impossible for him to leave.

Riley is the third-highest-paid head coach in FBS with an $11.5 million base salary. Details of his contract and buyout aren't publicly available, but he is believed to have signed a 10-year deal back in 2022 that would tie him to the Trojans through the 2031 season.

USC will close out the regular season with games against Iowa on Nov. 15, at No. 6 Oregon on Nov. 22 and hosting UCLA on Nov. 29.