LOS ANGELES — USC head football coach Lincoln Riley walked into a Bloom Football Performance Center media room that was filled wall-to-wall with reporters.
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The rumors had brought them in. Rumors that started to circulate seemingly as soon as the clock hit zero in USC’s 24-7 loss to Wisconsin on Saturday night, a defeat that knocked the Trojans out of the AP Top 25 rankings. Would Lincoln Riley leave for Baylor? Could the Trojans possibly turn to Carson Palmer as their next head coach?
Riley cleared the air on Tuesday, saying he’s here to stay and that his relationship with Athletic Director Jen Cohen remains strong.
“I’ve had plenty of opportunities to leave,” said Riley, a Texas native who had never coached west of Lubbock before moving to USC. “This is where I want to be.”
And with a deep exhale, Riley broke the third wall.
“I understand the questions, and I understand the perspective from the outside,” he said. “I try to give you guys – maybe sometimes, regardless of maybe what you think about how I answer questions – I try to really give you guys insight on how I really feel and think.”
Cohen, who replaced Mike Bohn in 2023, is “fantastic. She’s a tremendous AD,” Riley said. “Even though she’s not the AD that I came here with and I’m not the head coach that she hired, (it’s a) fantastic relationship. She’s been a huge part of the progress that we’ve made and has been incredibly supportive.”
He continued on to talk about the highs and lows of being a college football coach. Of not wanting to get out of bed the morning after his first loss while coaching at Oklahoma. Of how fans wanted to run him out of town after that loss.
“By the end of the year, we went on a run,” Riley said, “and everybody was saying all this and that, which was making me look way better than I certainly was at the time by any stretch. But that was my first kind of christening as a head coach.”
Riley, who was heralded when first hired, has been under public scrutiny in his fifth season as head coach of the Trojans. He has a 41-20 record at USC, where he has yet to earn a conference title or a College Football Playoff berth.
USC also lost to West Coast rival Oregon, 41-27, and was criticized for how it handled the ejection of linebacker Desman Stephens II after a late hit to Ducks quarterback Dante Moore, who will miss the rest of the season due to a concussion.
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But it was the Wisconsin loss that proved to be the tipping point, and the burners beneath Riley’s proverbial hot seat fired up once again.
The seven points that USC scored were the fewest by any team under Riley, and the minus-17 rushing yards were the fewest for the Trojans since 1999. They struggled to get into the red zone and missed two field goal attempts in the second half.
Riley told reporters on Tuesday that he “didn’t do a good enough job staying with it” as a play-caller.
“You’re trying to call the best plays in the moment,” Riley said. “Even the games where we’ve had 500 yards and 60 points, I still come back, and there’s always things that I want back.”
“The flip side of that is our, and my, track record offensively is pretty decent. There ain’t been many games around here like that, and there’s not going to be many more.”
Offensive players who were available to the media on Tuesday showed support for Riley, emphasizing his leadership and ability to stay level-headed after both wins and losses.
“I got utmost trust in that guy,” running back King Miller said. “I wouldn’t be here without him. I mean, he’s been the guy that’s been here since I was a walk-on and was treating me the same way I am as a starter. I’m always going to have love for that guy. I have no doubt in this world that he’s the best person for the job.”
Saturday’s matchup with Ohio State is another must-win for USC (6-2 overall, 3-2 Big Ten), considering the context of Riley’s hot seat and any last hope for a spot in the 12-team CFP hanging in the balance. The second-ranked Buckeyes (6-1, 4-0) are one of just two teams that remain unbeaten in Big Ten play, alongside No. 7 UCLA (7-0, 5-0).
That’s the sentiment that Riley kicked off his Tuesday press conference with.
“I’m looking forward to playing Ohio State,” said Riley, whose team also faces No. 4 Indiana (7-1, 4-1) and UCLA among its final four opponents. “We’ve got a 6-2 record right now. We got a huge home game coming up here in the Coliseum, and if my focus is anywhere outside of that, then it’s in the wrong place.”