Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Sooners begin the task of filling out its coaching staff by hiring Brent Venables as their new head coach. This, after Lincoln Riley suddenly left the program and headed west to the USC Trojans.
Despite moving on, some Sooners fans are still not happy with how the entire thing played out with Riley.
USC’s official account on TikTok trolled the Sooners with an “unrealistic things we want for Christmas” post on social media this weekend and requested “Oklahoma fans to leave us alone” with a video of Riley from his introduction in Los Angeles.
“Merry Christmas to everyone except those raising hell in our comments,” USC Athletics captioned its TikTok post.
@usc.athletics merry christmas to all (except those raising hell in our comments) #usc #football #jinglebells
Riley went 55-10 over five seasons with the Sooners and won four Big 12 championships. He advanced to the College Football Playoff in each of his first three seasons and produced two Heisman winners at quarterback. He reportedly was none to thrilled about the program taking its talent to the SEC over the next few years.
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Riley said he understands hostility exists with Oklahoma fans following his unexpected exit to USC and does not take the negative reaction personal.
“I hope time will heal that, I really do,” Riley said. “I understand they’re disappointed that we left. I do. I have a lot of love for that place. Me and my family poured our heart and soul into that place for seven years. Loved every second of it. Had a tremendous run of championships, success on and off the field. We’ve got nothing but love.
“These things, when you leave a university, they either fire you or you leave on your own accord and neither one of them are easy and we understand it. Our love for that place will never go away. We certainly hope as time goes on, the time over there will be remembered fondly and everybody will remember all the great success we had together.”
It’s going to take a long time for that hate to subside.
