Lincoln Riley finds himself in the crosshairs of racial divide once again. But this time, he’s not an assistant coach, he’s the head coach.

Back in 2015, spring football came to a halt after members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity were captured on video singing a racist chant.

The video moved across social media like a raging inferno. Player reaction was swift, emotional, raw and unfiltered through social media channels.

Overnight, the University of Oklahoma campus became a cauldron of hurt and anger.

The scandal interrupted spring football practices. Players were left to heal instead of play.

Instead of practice, players locked arms, walked out to the practice field and stood in unison.

“I've always been very impressed with how coach Stoops and that entire group handled that incident in 2015,” said Riley on Wednesday. “So certainly something I've learned from.

“Most important, I learned the importance of communication and making sure everybody in our program is on the same page and everybody in our program has an opportunity to speak their mind and make their belief heard, and that there's no resistance there.”

On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested 46-year old George Floyd on a complaint of using a counterfeit bill while attempting to buy cigarettes.

Floyd, who was already handcuffed, was pinned down by officers, including officer Derek Chauvin, who placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.

Even after Floyd lost consciousness Chauvin’s knee remained on his neck.

Floyd, a black man, died not just in police custody, but because he was in police custody.

Minneapolis immediately reacted. Protests formed, rioting started, chaos erupted.

For black people across the country, it became a tipping point. This was a black man being murdered in broad daylight. Everyone could see it. Floyd was pleading for his life. They killed him anyway.

Oklahoma football finds itself back in this spot once more. This time, they are joining the rest of the country in protest, in pain.

As the emotions started to unfold on Twitter, players were not connected as they were in 2015. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still ongoing, players were reaching out, some in anger.

Some were even demanding their coaches to take a stand.

Those of us watching from the outside were curious when Riley was going to make his statement. But the statements did come from coaches all over the football staff. Players like Jadon Haselwood, Chanse Sylvie and Justin Broiles participated in protest marches.

Eventually, everyone was able to come together.

“My players know who I am. They know what I stand for,” said Riley of those tense moments between the death of Floyd and reaching out to his team. “I'm very confident and secure of that. They know my beliefs on that.

“We've had opportunities to discuss that as a team several times. It hasn't always been because of an issue. We always try to kind of keep those lines of communication open.

“Nobody, whether you're a coach, whether you're a starter, whether you're a walk-on, whether you're black, whether you're white, whether your religion is this or that, none of that matters to us in our facility, on our football team or in our program. It never has. I think our guys know where I stand.”

For Oklahoma, this is a program that is focused on a lot of things right now. Players will be undergoing self-quarantine leading up to their arrivals on July 1 and eventually practices will begin in Norman.

But Riley has officially put his weight behind the Black Lives Matter movement and after Colin Kaepernick’s final days in the NFL divided a sport and was marginalized by many, you can expect protests to ramp up this season across football stadiums.

How will Riley handle those types of displays knowing how much controversy Kaepernick caused kneeling during the national anthem?

“I don't think that anything would be off the table, certainly, as far as a protest or as far as a call for equality and for the world to get better, which it needs to right now,” he said. “As long as it's done tastefully, it's well thought out, it's done peacefully, there is certainly nothing off the table in that realm for me personally.”

The Black Lives Matter movement has certainly had it’s fair share of controversy as well. Pushback from segments of the population is likely. Especially in red states like Oklahoma.

Riley, and others have embraced the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag through social media. So he’s not concerned about the backlash.

“It’s a personal belief of mine,” Riley said. “All lives do matter but the incidents here of all of the different things that have gone on between law enforcement and specifically black males has highlighted that. And people have said it very well and maybe better than I can say it — all lives can’t matter until the black lives do too.”

Fans want sports back. And few fans can claim the passion of college football fans. Everything suggests college football will return this fall. We’re even trending toward fans being able to attend games at this point.

But there will be an added element to this season because of what’s happened in Minneapolis and in many other cities across the country. There will be a social justice element to games this season, at least in Oklahoma.

It might not sit well with the ‘shut up and play’ crowd, but you’ll have to learn to live with it.

Riley knows it’s something that’s unavoidable. And he was asked what he would say to those who want no part of politics with their sports.

“I understand we live in a country where you’re able to believe what you want to believe and able to express that. Certainly, respect everybody’s opinions and understand it’s probably a fantasy to think that we would all think or believe one way ever,” Riley explained. “But the opportunity that if we do have differing opinions, to at least be able to respect the other people’s opinions.

“If we do protest or question or anything like that, that we do it peacefully and tastefully. That we try to find a place where we can all co-exist and all have the same opportunities. That would be my hope that we could get there.”

Right now is a difficult time for our country. It’s a difficult time for sports.

Rebooting college football while finding a way for all sides to get along is going to be key for those of you used to cheering on your teams but not quite used to hearing what they have to say about matters off the field.

“I would hope that regardless of what side of the argument that somebody is on that we could get to that place of mutual respect,” said Riley.