USC Football: Pac-12 Nemesis Head Coach Talks Trojan Beat Reporter's Suspension

USC's cross-town rival head coach gives his take on the initial reporter suspension

Your USC Trojans have been in the headlines this past week, and unfortunately, it had nothing to do with football. 

As we all know by now, USC and head coach Lincoln Riley initially suspended a journalist representing the SoCal News Group, Luca Evans, for a conversation he wrote about regarding two players while preparing to talk to the media. That particular piece violated its policy prohibiting reporting on anything outside of media availabilities in the practice facility. 

It was all over the headlines earlier in the week but failed to reach USC's cross-town rival head coach, UCLA's Chip Kelly. Kelly was asked about it in his media scrum, and he had no idea what the reporters were talking about. 

This morning, #UCLA head coach Chip Kelly was asked about the situation at USC, with Lincoln Riley issuing a 2-week suspension to SCNG reporter Luca Evans for what the program considered violations of its media policy: pic.twitter.com/OKcJrQ1pof

— Tracy McDannald 📎 (@Tracy_McDannald) September 20, 2023

Kelly had a puzzled look, followed by a nice grin when he found out about the suspended reporter. Others were joking with the reporter who asked Kelly the question and with Kelly himself. 

Since then, the suspension is no longer upheld, and Evans is back to covering the Trojans. The Trojans had a ton of heat come their way because of how they handled the situation. Luckily, it's all resolved now, and the team and university can return to handling business like Evans and his fellow journalist. 

Kelly is clearly focused on his team, as they have a big Pac-12 matchup ahead, and we're doing the same on this side of town.