Oklahoma HC Lincoln Riley on NFL: 'I Certainly Wasn't Tempted at All This Year'

Lincoln Riley knows he has the eyes of NFL teams. He just doesn't care.

Yet. 

"I certainly wasn't tempted at all this year," Riley told Peter King of NBC Sports. "I would say right now it wouldn't surprise me at all if I am a college lifer. I think it'll be interesting how a lot of things go on from here ... if there's a lot of changes in both games. Football is evolving; there's a lot of changes obviously at the NFL level right now. There's a lot of changes with all the transfers and recruiting and all the different things going on at the college level. You never know how those games are going to evolve.

"I might've been tempted honestly had I not been at a place like Oklahoma. But this is one of the best jobs there is in football. Like I've said before, I'll never say never. I never want to promise things that I can't 1,000 percent guarantee. It's not something that really tempts me at all right now."

Riley, 35, is 24-4 in two seasons at Oklahoma. The Sooners have made the College Football Playoff in each of those years, and though they were defeated in their first game both times, Riley has established himself as one of the most sought-after names in coaching. 

Riley has helped Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray to the Heisman Trophy, becoming the first coach to lead two different players at the same position to the Heisman in consecutive years. He's the first coach since Pete Carroll in 2004 and 2005 to have consecutive Heisman winners period.

"Lincoln's been ready, it's just who he is and how he coaches and the respect level he's had from all of his players, how detailed he is," Mayfield told reporters in December. "Yeah, he's ready but that's his decision and you know what, he's got something special there so I don't think anybody is going to blame him if he stays there for the next 20 years."

It will likely take a special pro job to lure Riley away from Oklahoma. The school approved a contract extension in January that will pay him an average of $6.5 million per season, the highest salary in the Big 12. Jim Harbaugh is the only coach in the country with a higher salary who has not made at least an appearance in a national championship game.

Riley also has something he'll likely never have in any NFL post: security. Oklahoma isn't going to fire him barring some unforeseen downturn in fortunes. The Sooners became one of the country's steadiest programs under predecessor Bob Stoops and has only failed to win 10 games three times since the turn of the century.

With NFL offers also not going away any time soon, Riley is in a prime position to keep landing year-over-year raises while turning himself into the Nick Saban of the Big 12. 

Provided, of course, he keeps churning out first-round picks under center.