Paul Finebaum Makes Bold Accusation That Top CFB Head Coach 'Tucked And Ran'

Lincoln Riley enters his third season as the head coach at USC, but the Trojans have failed to meet the lofty expectations set after Riley departed from Oklahoma.

In five seasons at Oklahoma, Riley led the Sooners to four conference championships and three appearances in the College Football Playoff. Riley is only 19-8 over his first two seasons at USC, including a disappointing 8-5 season in 2023.

ESPN's Paul Finebaum has voiced his opinion on Riley's job security at USC. During an appearance on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning , Finebaum made a bold accusation about Riley's departure from Oklahoma. He claimed Riley 'tucked and ran' from Oklahoma, contributing to his lack of success with the Trojans.

“I don’t think Lincoln Riley has a path back, and what we all sensed on Monday (in Oklahoma) was real," Finebaum said. "This wasn’t just the ‘beat up the coach.’ Listen, we all lived through that 20 years ago at Alabama when Dennis Franchione left.

"This was even more stark because Lincoln Riley was popular. I mean, he was beloved by Oklahoma people. He had taken the program to three playoffs and a couple of Heisman trophy winners. And he just clearly tucked and ran.

“In the parlance of college sports… running away from something is probably the worst look. And that’s how they feel about him. And this is an incredibly proud program that has been at the pinnacle of the sport for 100 years.”

Finebaum has consistently pointed towards Brent Venables' success last season at Oklahoma as the biggest inditement on Riley's decision to leave Oklahoma. Venables led the Sooners to 10 wins last season and a Top 15 finish in the AP Top 25 poll.

Finebaum continued to say that Riley's downfall at USC is inevitable and that it could go down in college football history as one of the sport's biggest failures.

“It’s a matter of whether he crashes and burns or he decides he’s got to seek elsewhere, but I don’t think there’s any way he’s going to be successful out there. I think that train has pulled out of the station,” Finebaum continued. “And if indeed that happens, this is one of the most historic crash and burns in the history of college football.

“Because five years ago, Lincoln Riley was literally considered among the top three or four coaches in the country. Every time the Cowboy's job came along, everybody feared he would leave. But he made a disastrous decision, I think, in the end.”

Related: Paul Finebaum Makes Bold Prediction About Lincoln Riley's Future At USC