Lincoln Riley on 'GameDay': Leaving Oklahoma 'Was Hard,' but USC 'Was Too Good to Pass Up'

Former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley didn’t reveal much in his five minutes on the set of ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Saturday morning. The new USC coach did,

Former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley didn’t reveal much in his five minutes on the set of ESPN’s “College GameDay” on Saturday morning.

The new USC coach did, however, again express how difficult it was to leave Oklahoma.

“Oh, it was — I don't know that I can even describe how hard it was,” Riley said in response to studio analyst David Pollack’s question on why he left OU and how hard it was.

“But executing it was hard. The people there that you love, the relationships, all the great memories, that was the hard part,” Riley continued. “But this was the right thing for my family, for me professionally. It was just the right place at the right time. And so I really had no hesitation about that part of it.”

Lincoln Riley says it was hard leaving Oklahoma, but it was the right thing for him and his family.

“It was just the right place at the right time. … This was just too good to pass up.” pic.twitter.com/fR398Nq2dd

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) January 1, 2022

While Bob Stoops has cemented his Hall of Fame legacy by settling the tumult and winning the Alamo Bowl and Brent Venables has been winning over the fan base and preparing to be what AD Joe Castiglione called "the next great Oklahoma coach," Riley has talked openly about the allure of coaching at USC and living in Southern California. 

Riley on Saturday also continued the narrative that the Trojans are one of college football’s sleeping giants.

“I feel like what this can be, I think we're very uniquely positioned right now with all this changing in college football,” Riley said, “and if you looked ahead, you felt like, ‘Man, this was just too good to pass up.’ “

Riley said the first step in changing the culture is to bring in coaches who understand what his vision of a winning culture looks like. He accomplished that by bringing several Sooner assistants with him, like defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, linebackers coach Brian Odom, cornerbacks coach Roy Manning and defensive ends coach Jamar Cain — although Cain changed his mind Friday, spurning Riley to sign on with Brian Kelly’s new staff at LSU.

“I think the first thing is bringing a staff of people that understand what that looks like,” Riley said. “You know, that we don't have to teach them what the culture looks like, and then in turn, teach the players. And so we've been able to bring a tremendous staff, guys that know what a championship program looks like, how it operates. And then you bring it to these guys.”

After inheriting a championship-level at OU, can Riley build USC into a winner out of the ashes of mediocrity? Time will tell.

“Very different, very different,” Riley said of his start at OU and his start at USC. “Like you said Oklahoma was in June. The majority of the staff was in place. I was learning a lot on the fly. I think coming in now there's some things that that I will do different just because this is the start of something. But it's exciting. It's exciting to have a chance to kind of join with everybody to build this thing together. Again, we just keep looking at what the top end can do here and we just feel like that really the possibilities are endless and it makes it fun to get up each morning and attack.”

Riley has been successful raiding Southern California recruits that he had committed to Oklahoma. That’s a start, and having back-yard access to so many prospects is an element that could sustain the program.

“I think there's a lot of buy-in right now,” Riley said. “I think USC is at a place where they do, the program has been — they’ve been humbled, I think, in a way that I think everybody realizes that we've all got to get on board. We've got all do it together. We all recognize the opportunities if we do that.

“ … Programs that are championship programs, that are right there in the mix year in and year out, it starts with culture, and that's certainly what it's gonna — that's what will happen for us at USC.”