College Football

Lincoln Riley is USC's next football coach after five years at Oklahoma

Updated Nov. 28, 2021 8:35 p.m. ET

Hollywood is gaining another star.

After five seasons as head football coach at Oklahoma, Lincoln Riley is heading west to become the next coach of the USC Trojans.

Riley's switching jobs comes as no surprise to many, as his name has been mentioned in recent high-profile coaching searches. His final destination, however, did come as a shocker.

In the 48 hours prior to the announcement, Riley was rumored to be on the verge of accepting an offer to be the next coach at LSU. But he shot down those rumblings in his media conference after Oklahoma's 37-33 loss to No. 7 Oklahoma State on Saturday.

The news of Riley heading to USC came on the same day that another of college football's prestigious programs, the University of Florida, keyed on the next man to attempt to lead its program back to prominence.

Billy Napier, the current head coach at Louisiana, is set to take the job.

As for USC, hiring Riley is seen as a home run. The 38-year-old replaces Clay Helton, who was fired in September after posting a 46-24 record in seven seasons.

In five years as the head coach of Oklahoma, Riley accumulated a 55-10 record while making three consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff (2017-2019). Oklahoma's 55 wins since 2017 are tied with Ohio State for the fourth-most in the country in that time. That number also tied Bob Stoops for the most wins in a head coach's first five seasons at Oklahoma.

Riley also coached Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray to Heisman Trophy wins in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and saw them selected with the No. 1 picks in the 2018 and 2019 NFL drafts. Former Sooner Jalen Hurts, current quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, was a Heisman finalist in 2019 before he was selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Now, Riley will try to replicate that success at USC with a program that hasn't had a Heisman winner or national championship appearance since 2005.

The news of Riley's move sent shockwaves through the college football landscape. Check out some of the reactions on Twitter.