Mind of Mike: Lincoln Riley and Cowardice

What do cowards do? It’s kind of an interesting question. The definition of a coward is as follows…..

"a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things."

It’s a pretty good definition but I’d like to add to it. To me, a coward is someone who not only runs from a tough situation but also someone who makes excuses when others call them to the table for their cowardice. So the question begs — is Lincoln Riley a coward?

Riley was handed the keys to a Lamborghini at Oklahoma by Bob Stoops . A legendary coach passed on a well established blue blood program at exactly the right time. There was no sad end or limp to the finish line. Stoops went 11-2 in 2015 and 11-2 in 2016 and won the Big 12 each time. Riley didn’t have to do much to be successful at Oklahoma.

As a result, Riley went 36-6 his first three years as head coach at OU with three Big 12 titles and three playoff appearances. He was suddenly deemed an amazing coach. But a funny thing began to happen. Just as some coaches get better after a few years with their own players and far removed from their predecessors, Riley started to get worse. He was 9-2 in COVID 2020 and OU didn’t win the Big 12 for the first time in six years. He followed that up with a 10-2 season in 2021 and an embarrassing (by OU standards) third place finish in the Big 12. Riley was being exposed and rumors of a move to the SEC became louder. Riley was privately wooed by LSU for their job opening and even more privately wooed by USC unbeknownst to many. Instead of staying at OU and heading to the teeth of an SEC schedule or going to the pressure cooker of Baton Rouge to face ongoing SEC demands, he fled to LA and USC. Many feel Riley didn’t know USC was headed to the Big Ten at the time and didn’t know of the PAC 12’s demise and that may be true but he did know one thing — they weren’t going to be in the SEC.

Fast forward to this week where Riley made excuse after excuse as to why his USC program regressed last season and why his record is worse than Clay Helton’s was after two seasons. On the one hand Riley will say he considers USC at the top of the Big Ten and can take on all comers and on the other he’ll explain why making the schedule easy, like SEC teams do, is the way to the playoff. He claims he’s not a magician and can’t simply turn things around with ease while trying to get out of USC’s game against LSU this season to avoid another bad loss. He says once facilities and NIL are fixed at USC then watch out. He’s all over the map.

Some think Riley is a fraud and they could be right. Maybe he’s a glorified offensive coordinator who lucked into the perfect job as head coach. Many think he’s a coward who ran from the program that gave him his chance, ducked the SEC and is now full of excuses as the Big Ten and lots of travel will likely seal his fate.

I’m not an expert on cowardice but I do know an imposter when I see one. Riley is slowly being exposed as the average coach he’s always been and is cashing $10 million a year to make USC worse than they were under Helton. And that’s astonishing.