When news broke that Lincoln Riley was leaving Oklahoma to become the head coach of USC that the contract numbers would be insane.
But I don’t think anyone thought they’d be this crazy.
According to rumors floating around social media, the Trojans are paying Riley over $100 million to leave Oklahoma in addition to buying both of his homes in Norman, Oklahoma for $500,000 over the asking price.
In his final year at OU, Riley led the Sooners to a 10-2 record but failed to make the Big 12 Championship Game after losses to Baylor and Oklahoma State.
Bob Stoops will fill in and serve as the Sooners’ interim head coach during their upcoming bowl game.
“My time at OU has included some of the most special years of my life and my family’s lives. I had so many great memories and made so many great friends that we’ll take with us forever. A lot of things that we were a part of here, I’m incredibly proud of — the success on the field, the success off the field, the players. Proud of the staff. Proud of the way we worked so well with the university and our administration. We’ve been able to have two phenomenal leaders in President Harroz and Joe Castiglione, and they have been everything I could ever ask for in this role and more.
“Leaving OU was probably the most difficult decision of my life. OU is one of the best college football programs in the country, and it has been forever. That’s not going to change. It’s not going to change in the SEC, it’s not going to change with another head coach. It’s stood the test of time and it’s going to continue to do so. This was a personal decision solely based on my willingness to go take on a new challenge, and I felt like it was the right opportunity for me and my family to do that.
“We’ll leave here with fond memories. It’ll be very difficult to say goodbye to Norman, but it will always be a part of our family, our history. I’ll be a Sooner fan as long as I live — a fan of this state, of this university and the people here. I love them all very much.”
Riley first joined OU as the offensive coordinator in 2015 and was named the head coach in 2017 after Stoops decided to step away from the position. Riley amassed a 55-10 record as head coach and led OU to four-straight Big 12 titles and four College Football Playoff appearances.
Losing Riley was just the tip of the iceberg as Spencer Rattler has entered the transfer portal and multiple previous commits to the program have decommitmented and plan to take their talent elsewhere.
