Breaking: Riley to USC

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley will be leaving the Sooners to take the head coaching position at USC, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported Sunday afternoon.

Riley just finished his fifth regular season as OU’s head coach, compiling a 55-10 record. The Sooners saw their regular season come to a close in a 37-33 Bedlam loss at Oklahoma State on Saturday evening, guaranteeing that OU would not be able to win a seventh straight Big 12 conference championship.

The news is an absolute stunner. Everybody knew the coaching carousel was gonna be crazy this season, but Riley had never been linked at all with USC the entire time.

The last month all the rumors swirling were with Riley leaving Norman to take over at LSU, something Riley flat-out refuted after the Bedlam loss to SoonerScoop.com’s Carey Murdock.

“Hold up, hold up, hold up, Carey,” said Riley, not allowing the question to be finished. “I’m not going to be the next head coach at LSU. Next question.”

Riley, 38, came to OU following the 2014 season and was the offensive coordinator for the 2015 and 2016 seasons before becoming head coach after Bob Stoops shockingly retired in the summer before the 2017 season.

OU made the playoffs with Riley as offensive coordinator in 2015 and then as a head coach in 2017, 2018 and 2019 although the Sooners are 0-4 in the college football playoff.

The recruiting ramifications are going to be enormous, not only for the 2022 class but also for the 2023 class. The early signing period is less than three weeks away, beginning Dec. 15.

On3 sports reported Riley informed the staff early Sunday afternoon, and SoonerScoop.com can confirm there was a meeting with the players set for this afternoon.

The Sooners will be having their first legitimate coaching search since landing Stoops way back when in 1999.

*SoonerScoop.com will have a lot more on this shocking development.