Lincoln Riley Expresses 'Guilt and Sadness' Over Leaving Oklahoma the Way he Did

In a piece posted Wednesday at The Players Tribune, Riley said there are things he "would certainly do differently if I could do it again."

Former Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley on Wednesday expressed “guilt and sadness” over the way he left the Sooners for USC back in December.

That’s the expression he used in a column he penned Wednesday for The Players Tribune.

“There are aspects of my departure and transition that I would certainly do differently if I could do it again,” Riley wrote, “and I acknowledge that I could have handled some parts of the situation better. I absolutely own that.”

In a piece called “Sometimes Life Throws You a Curveball,” Riley described the awkward meeting with OU players the morning after a “gut-wrenching loss” at Oklahoma State to end the 2021 season.

“In one of the most difficult moments of my life and career, I stood in front of our Oklahoma team to let them know that I was leaving,” Riley wrote. “I saw the immediate consequences of my decision on the faces of the players.”

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Lincoln Riley celebrated many, many highlights at OU.

Riley said he “hated the timing” because of the loss only hours earlier, but also cited “the recent rule changes in college football impacting the recruiting cycle” and said it only “made a difficult transition even tougher.”

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Riley wrote in The Players Tribune today he thought he'd retire at OU.

He said on the plane ride to USC just a few hours later, “I was also filled with some guilt and sadness realizing that Norman was no longer home.”

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Riley became the first coach since 1946 to leave OU for another college job.

Riley recounted getting the call from Bob Stoops to be his offensive coordinator — he was sitting at Gate 12 at Love Field in Dallas — and said he assumed he’d coach the rest of his career at OU.

Riley — who recently made news for his purchase of a $17 million home overlooking the Pacific Ocean — said he’s “thankful” and “couldn’t be happier to be in Southern California. … It honestly feels like a dream to wake up in paradise every single day.”

“Since my move, many have asked me why I would leave Oklahoma,” Riley wrote, “and the best — and most honest — answer is that the opportunity at USC was simply the right job at the right time for me and my family. We all have moments in life where we are faced with difficult choices, and this was the path my family and I chose. I don’t expect everyone to understand; in my line of work, that’s not possible.”

At the beginning of the piece, Riley said expressing his thoughts in The Players Tribune “could be a good opportunity to provide some needed clarity and context to my family’s decision,” and at the end, he wrote, “I have wanted to find the right time to say many of these things, as they certainly have been on my heart and mind. This was that time.”

Riley opened by recounting a few of his favorite memories during his seven years at OU, and he closed by saying “nothing can ever take away from our appreciation for OU and the overwhelming number of positive things we experienced there.”