USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley may be ready to make the jump to the NFL in the not-so-distant future after all.
Regarded as one of the best head coaches and culture builders in the NCAA, the 40-year-old Riley would certainly garner plenty of interest if he expressed interest in making the move to the professionals.
According to a report from USC Trojans insider Scott Wolf, there is talk around the NFL that Riley has been “putting out feelers” regarding an NFL coaching position:
“In NFL coaching circles, the talk is that Lincoln Riley is putting out feelers about taking a job in the NFL next season. To be clear, this chatter was going around last week and has nothing to do with USC’s loss to Notre Dame.
The word is Riley would be open to an NFL job if he could follow Caleb Williams to the same franchise. If the Chicago Bears had the No. 1 pick, it would probably ideal for this theory. The other part of the theory is that an NFL team would tell Riley who to hire, especially on the defensive staff, to avoid some of the pratfalls that have happened in college.
If Riley is serious about wanting to coach only 10 more years, it makes sense that he would go to the NFL sooner than later.”
Riley was the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners from 2017 to 2021, working with a pair of future first overall picks in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Riley moved over to USC in 2022 and helped quarterback Caleb Williams piece together a historic Heisman Trophy-winning season.
These days, NFL teams needing a new head coach tend to go for a young offensive-minded guy. Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDaniel, Zac Taylor, Kevin Stefanski and Nick Sirianni are among the younger active head coaches who were hired in their 30s.
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So Riley certainly fits that trend. Of course, there are several recent examples of successful NCAA coaches who flopped in the NFL, including Matt Rhule with the Carolina Panthers and Kliff Kingsbury with the Arizona Cardinals.
Riley went 55-10 during his tenure at Oklahoma. His Trojans enter Saturday with a 6-1 record.
