Paul Finebaum took up free speech too seriously when he said that Deion Sanders should come and replace Lincoln Riley, whom he referred to as a ”terrible coach”. USC has been the talk of the town this whole season, be it about the efficiency of the Head Coach or about what the players can do this time to outshine and act better than how they were the previous year.

Well, Lincoln Riley did not outspokenly address the allegations made by Paul. Still, he replied to it very casually and calmly, just like we expect from an experienced Head Coach like Riley himself. USC’s Media Day was the setting for the statement and Riley did not disappoint.

Lincoln Riley is taking the criticism well

On July 25th, during USC’s Media Day before the start of the much-awaited 2024 season, Riley took the stage and participated in an interview. When asked about his opinion on the message behind USC being the hot topic in other Media Days and conferences, he shared his thoughts. Riley with a broad smile said, “One thing that you learn pretty quickly is everything in programs like this is going to be sensationalized one way or another” This just shows how unaffected and calm he is after the big allegations and the talk around firing him and bringing in Deion Sanders at his spot, who is just not eligible for it. Keeping in mind the kind of team Deion coached last year, the very poor O-line that Colorado had and Riley being an O-line genius just clearly shines all the time.

Riley further added to bring the thought that there also comes the good and the bad together. It is very common to be judged and for someone to pass a ”crazy” statement against you. He said,

“…you got to take the good with the bad or the crazy or however you want to describe it um no I take it as a compliment that we’re on a lot of people’s minds”. Some would say that he is just too compared to his colleagues. As he very well jabbed Paul Finebaul by indirectly addressing him and saying that he takes it as a compliment, it reminds him of how USC is the hot-talk.

He did not stop there and added that he has clearly done some work and if he would just sit and listen to people who tell him that the team did not do well because we were a part of it then the success that USC has seen would not have been there. He said,

“If I sat there and listened to every person that told me or teams that I’ve been a part of that we couldn’t do things then we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy all the success that we’ve had over the years”. Well, USC has indeed achieved some success and there are high expectations for even greater success in the upcoming season. Not forgetting how Riley took the team to 11-3 and made Caleb Williams a Heisman winner in the year 2022. And Deion Sanders? A guy who coached the top contenders and who as a team could just win one out of the 12 games that they played in the year 2022. With that, Paul’s calling out Riley as a ”terrible” coach stands nowhere, which was even supported by many entities, one of which was Doug Gottlieb.

USC man Riley was never alone

The basketball coach of Green Bay Phoenix, Doug Gottlieb, came in support of Riley and called Paul a ”clown” with zero hesitation. Dough asked Paul to ‘go back and stroke SEC’. With that, he made an impressive statement which was, “Lincoln isn’t going anywhere and they will win.” Well, Riley is here to stay and everyone knows it!

Deion also was dragged through the mud as fans dismissed Paul’s suggestion of him getting in the shoes of Lincoln Riley by replacing him. And no one stands bigger than the fans themselves. Hence, respecting their opinion, both Deion and Riley are where they belong and must stay there. With that, we have to see what Colorado and USC do this coming season. Will they be any better? Will there be any contender for the Heisman from USC or Colorado this season? A lot of questions, just a bit of patience and we are good to go as the season is almost on the doorstep. Get ready!