Lincoln Riley reflects on USC tenure, coaching decisions in interview

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The 2026 season will be a crucial one for USC head coach Lincoln Riley. While the Trojans are now recruiting at an elite level, through four years under Riley, USC has yet to win a conference championship or make the College Football Playoff. Entering this season, there is real pressure on Riley to finally meet the level of winning that was expected from him when he was hired back in 2021.

While Riley may have yet to achieve the level of success at USC that he did in his prior stint at Oklahoma, that does not mean he believes that has regressed. In an interview with CBS Sports at the Big Ten’s annual spring meetings this week, Riley discussed his time at USC thus far and his development as a head coach.

“I’m a lot better coach than at any point during the years at Oklahoma,” Riley said. “I’ve definitely learned and grown a lot. There are a lot of things I’ve learned now that I wish I had known back then.

“The biggest thing that probably affected our timeline was that we went all in to try to really push in Year 2. And we missed some key guys in that portal. If you miss, not only does it affect you that year, then that’s also a group of high school kids that you didn’t take. You aren’t developing.

“If I had to do it over, in hindsight, which we know is not reality, I would have dove into the high school (recruiting) more. You know, I would have shifted more of the focus to the high school stuff in the second year.”

Riley clearly believes that he has grown as a coach during his time in Los Angeles. Now, USC fans are hoping that he can prove it by winning on the field this fall.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Lincoln Riley reflects on USC tenure in CBS Sports interview

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