Lincoln Riley reflects on USC tenure, coaching decisions in interview
In an interview this week, USC’s head coach reflected on what he has learned during his time with the Trojans thus far
The 2026 season will be a crucial one for USC head coach Lincoln Riley. While the Trojans are now recruiting at an elite level , through four years under Riley, USC has yet to win a conference championship or make the College Football Playoff. Entering this season, there is real pressure on Riley to finally meet the level of winning that was expected from him when he was hired back in 2021.
While Riley may have yet to achieve the level of success at USC that he did in his prior stint at Oklahoma, that does not mean he believes that has regressed. In an interview with CBS Sports at the Big Ten’s annual spring meetings this week, Riley discussed his time at USC thus far and his development as a head coach. “I'm a lot better coach than at any point during the years at Oklahoma,” Riley said.
“I've definitely learned and grown a lot. There are a lot of things I've learned now that I wish I had known back then. “The biggest thing that probably affected our timeline was that we went all in to try to really push in Year 2.
And we missed some key guys in that portal. If you miss, not only does it affect you that year, then that's also a group of high school kids that you didn't take. You aren't developing.