by Kyle Golik
When a prodigy achieves so much early, many wonder what is left for the prodigy to accomplish. At the age of 40, Southern California head coach Lincoln Riley has been a fast riser in the coaching profession.
The accomplishments and experiences Riley has lived through could write a book. He’s learned the Air Raid offense at the knee of Mike Leach and worked with Bob Stoops at Oklahoma. In addition, he’s had two head coaching gigs at the bluest of blue bloods in college football with Oklahoma and Southern California, where he has won big at both schools.
Riley has become known as “The Quarterback Whisperer,” where five-star recruits all clamor to follow in the footsteps of three Heisman Trophy winners and Jalen Hurts, who is seeking NFL MVP and Super Bowl hardware of his own.
While accomplishing so much, the toll of excellence has weighed on Riley.
Across town, his fellow offensive prodigy Sean McVay of the Rams has openly pondered retirement after each of the past two seasons. This doesn’t help things for Riley.
Riley has answered. “I know right now, there are things I want to do, I don’t want to have regrets when I’m done, at the end of my life. I do think about that. I just don’t want to have regrets, especially with anything that has to do with my family. It’s hard not to consider the possibility of starting over in life.”
More Sports News
As Riley has been grinding through the past two seasons, the Los Angeles Times’ Ryan Kartje wrote about the battles Riley has been contending with as a coach. Most of the issues Riley has been dealing with are personal in nature, and Kartje did a masterful job outlining them.
Things have compounded for Riley as a person. Between his departure from Oklahoma and the loss of Dave Nichol, a coach who mentored Riley at Texas Tech when he got his start at 24 years old.
Nichol and Riley relished the opportunity to reunite at Southern Cal, but when Nichol was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, it turned Riley upside down. Nichol would succumb to complications of his illness just months after the diagnosis, but with all the pressure to perform for Southern California, it didn’t give time for Riley to properly grieve.
Things did not get better for Riley when Southern California lost the Pac-12 Championship Game with the subsequent passing of Mike Leach rounding out a year that was very difficult for the young coach. Noticing how players and coaches alike reconciled with Leach over the Texas Tech departure gave Riley a new perspective on relationships. But Riley and Leach never got that chance.
“It was kind of a little bit more of a scorched earth path with me,” Riley said.
“Why did I give that my attention? Or why did I just not say, ‘I’m sorry?’ Or why was I not the one to reach out or to make things right? I was guilty of that in a lot of ways early on.”
With Riley’s mental and emotional outlook changing, the most apparent takeaway from the LA Times piece is Riley is becoming more introspective. What is next for Riley?
Option 1: NFL
With college football going from a 24/7 position during the season, to now with the transfer portal and NIL now a factor in the game, the position has morphed into a 24/7/365 position. Riley recognizes the time constraints to things that happen in life with family and friends are limited.
He has made a kinship with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay. Both men use each other as a sounding board.
“Sean and I have been able to have a couple good chats about it,” Riley said. “It’s good to have someone in town who’s going through some similar things.”
One of the things Riley envies is the time off NFL coaches get to experience, “The guys in the NFL, their lifestyle is awesome in a lot of ways,” Riley said. “Once their season is done, life is a lot different than a college coach out of season.”
Make no mistake, the long hours NFL coaches have during the season are no different than what college coaches go through. Building a college team has more and easier paths to turnover and build a roster. Riley demonstrated it last season.
In the NFL, if you don’t have the pieces, you have to contend with a cap, you have only so many draft picks, and if you don’t have a franchise quarterback, your tenure is most certainly doomed.
Some point to Dallas as a likely landing spot.
I don’t feel the Dallas Cowboys is a situation Riley would like to step into. There seems to be plenty of micromanagement from one Jerry Jones that often dooms that team, and you have to be ready to accept the project that is Dak Prescott.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Bears are a disaster, and could very well have the first two picks in the draft, which could be a major coup. The issue you deal with is the cheapskates known as the McCaskeys.
If the New England Patriots continue their embarrassing play, the fact owner Robert Kraft, when asked about Bill Belichick staying in New England long enough to pass Don Shula, replied he wanted to make the playoffs this year, tells you all you need to know about that tenuous situation. Riley would have the Belichick Mountain to overcome, not only dealing with following a legend who won six Super Bowls but the disaster that Belichick the GM did.
To me, the only NFL job, if it were to come open and it may considering the failure to realize the potential, Riley would have to take time to consider is the Los Angeles Chargers job. It is no secret Brandon Staley isn’t getting the most out of a very talented core – quarterback Justin Herbert, safety Derwin James, edge rushers Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa, wide receiver Keenan Allen, and tackle Rashawn Slater.
With Staley guiding the Chargers to another Top 10 pick, with that core, if the opportunity presented itself, it is one Riley would strongly consider, but having to work with the Spanos family is a challenge in itself.
Overall, I feel with what I know, Riley is a college coach, and while there are perks and opportunities that pique his interest, the overall situation isn’t ideal for Riley. I doubt he will leave Southern California for the NFL.
Option 2: Retirement
The LA Times article had a few critical junctions and places where retirement came up, and Riley was open to talking about it. To me, that story was a revelation of how long these conversations have been happening.
I found it refreshing that Riley can admit his shelf life in a very stressful, hypercompetitive, and cutthroat position. I felt the story about Bob Stoops’ sudden retirement at 56 was one that conveyed to me how aware Riley is of his profession.
Riley made waves in a recent interview with Graham Bensinger when he identified 50 as his retirement and doubled down in the LA Times article, saying 50, “had always kind of my been my stance.”
“As long as it’s like this,” Riley said. “I think we’ll see more and more people at least considering shutting it down a little sooner than they would 15 years ago.”
I feel Riley has to assess his personal/professional goals and ambitions to see if they can co-exist. If they can, I feel that can extend his shelf life, but if they can’t, only Riley knows what is more important to him.
If football isn’t the answer, he will exit stage left.
The last thing to consider, and what isn’t directly put out there but Kartje does a masterful job weaving it in, is Riley’s mental health. As Riley becomes more introspective, the gravity of the pressure of his job, and how emotionally connected he is are all going to weigh on the future for him.
What I feel confident in is Riley’s awareness about his and other coaches’ health, and if it is in a dangerous state, he will walk away.
Option 3. Stay at Southern California
Ultimately, men like Riley are driven to achieve what they absolutely want, and there is no doubt in my mind Riley could not walk away without achieving a national championship. When you look at his resume, it is filled with coaching at some of the sport’s most iconic venues, major wins, conference championships, coaching in four of the six New Year’s bowls, Heisman Trophy winners, and No. 1 overall NFL Draft choices.
Missing is reaching the apex of his position and winning it all.
This is a golden opportunity to achieve this goal, one that would immortalize him and fulfill the dream all the Air Raid coaches have in justifying their style of play. Southern California will accommodate Riley in any way health-wise to preserve and keep him around as long as they can.
There isn’t another job in the country I feel Riley would covet or take at this junction in his career. I don’t feel he is the type of guy who would coach Texas Tech or East Carolina for nostalgia purposes.
I feel that it is either Southern California or retirement at this point; it would take the absolute perfect NFL situation to lure him in, and that doesn’t exist.
