Lincoln Riley on High Alert As $90M Safety Net Piles Misery on USC After Fresh Intel Confirms Worst Fears

Lincoln Riley has had two lackluster seasons at USC, putting the fans and veterans on a tremendous test of patience. A gut-wrenching memory of 8-5 in 2023 and 7-6 in 2024 still haunts the Trojans too much to even expect anything better in the upcoming season. Riley has seemingly reached his lowest point in his three-year coaching stint with the Trojans. The horrific defensive unit and the visible lack of grit made the Trojans choke up to the big team battle.

But this is the high time. USC’s experimental transition into the Big 10 will remain a luckless attempt if the program doesn’t resolve the matter at the soonest. But the problem stretches deeper.

USC’s Lincoln Riley bond seems to invite more trouble for the Trojans

Riley has been largely mediocre in his Trojans endeavor. You can argue that he had a stupendous resume. But all that success happened when he was coaching in Oklahoma. Even though Caleb Williams (no. 1 pick in 2024) traveled with Riley to Southern California and even won a Heisman while at USC, the success didn’t follow the duo. In 2023, much of the blame was put on a lackluster defense; Riley hired a new DC, and for a while, the Trojans fooled everyone into believing that their fortunes had changed. How? By defeating LSU.

However, Riley’s extreme struggle under pressure and the lack of proper decision-making have been a glaring issue in the Trojans’ blocked path to supremacy. A playoff snub for three consecutive seasons is enough for the veterans to think of an alternative. But the money and a significant contract intricacy get in the way.

”Lincoln Riley USC, my understanding is that he had a 10-year guaranteed contract. Yes, I mean like I know it wasn’t public information, I know people have reported it but like also, too if you’re just a person in the room given where he came from and when he did like during the Mel Tucker hype like there’s no way he didn’t talk to people in the agent Community. They’ve all seemed to believe that this is a fully guaranteed deal,” ON3’s Ari Wasserman confirmed what was floating in the air so far. Lincoln Riley’s contract with USC is a 10-year deal worth $110 million. His salary for 2024 is estimated to be $10.5 million, and the chance is high that it will go above $200,000 roughly each year.

These lofty numbers place Riley among the highest-paid coaches in college football. But the main hitch is his buyout, which is worth 90 million, the second highest in the CFB after Kirby Smart. ”How could it not be considering the timing of it where he came from? He’s three years in. He’s going into year four. So, we are talking about an ungodly amount of money if you wanted to move on from Lincoln Riley,” Wasserman added. The analyst echoed the sentiment of most of the USC fans, noting how it is absolutely essential to make a move, but at the same time, USC is not ready to spend the elephant money on him.

A heck of a situation that put the playoff hope in 2025 in severe jeopardy! But if you think USC faithful only has problems with Riley’s coaching strategy, it’s a half-truth. He has more woes under his belt.

Lincoln Riley’s ineptness as a coach forced players to leave

Paul Finebaum, the most outspoken Fox analyst, keeps on hitting Riley and his callousness behind a couple of failed seasons of the Trojans. Recruiting Riley was viewed as a great master move by the fans and veterans, but over the years, he failed to live up.

”Caleb Williams transferred from Oklahoma. Outside of one good year, Lincoln Riley has been a bust at USC. I think that’s the problem. He can’t seem to get it turned around,” Finebaum said during the latest episode of his podcast. Riley had a great start with an 11-3 debut season in 2022, but it kept on dwindling afterward.

‘I think it’s smoking hot,” Finebaum said. “Because not only has he had two bad seasons in a row, and this season was even worse than last season, if you keep up with it, he’s losing player after player to the portal. Nobody wants to play for this guy anymore. He has lost his magic.”

The transfer portal concern is fairly legitimate. USC has already lost 19 players in the portal. This was before their game against Texas A&M on December 27th. There has been more movement since then. It will be interesting to see how the Lincoln Riley-USC saga pans out going forward.