USC Football: Why Lincoln Riley Wants To Stick With Trojans, Avoid NFL Leap

Can he rebound from a thoroughly mediocre 2023 season?

During his first press conference with media since a celebratory Holiday Bowl postgame presser following your USC Trojans' 42-28 victory over the Louisville Cardinals, head coach Lincoln Riley was asked by Luca Evans of The Orange County Register why he preferred sticking with USC over perhaps exploring NFL coaching opportunities.

Asked Lincoln Riley about his commitment to sticking at USC rather than taking an NFL job in the current landscape of college football.

Really interesting answer for #USC fans here.

Riley: “I want to get it right here. I really, really do.” pic.twitter.com/HbT50ZCsWO

— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) February 15, 2024

“I want to get it right here. I really do,” Riley acknowledged. "I want it really bad, not for me, I just want it for this program. I want it really bad for the current team, the former players, the former coaches, the fans, the university, I just... There's some things with college football that we need to get right, not just for coaches, [but also] for far more than that. So I hope some of those can continue to get corrected."

"We still have a tremendous product [in terms of college football], the game is still tremendous, there's a lot of things that are I think very fixable that hopefully can happen," he continued. "I'm at the place where I want to be."

My follow-up question would be was Riley, hot off a brutally disappointing 8-5 season with then-reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams at the helm of his offense, even really offered a lot of coaching opportunities at the pro level? Maybe sticking with the Trojans -- and his $110 million contract -- just made the most sense from a lot of different angles.