Lincoln Riley
Lincoln Riley went 96–29 as a head coach, 2017–2026, at Oklahoma and USC. Share
- Record
- 96–29 career
- Seasons
- 10
- Schools
- 2
- Final AP top 10
- 3 seasons
- Born
- Sep 5, 1983
- Alma mater
- Texas Tech 2006
- Best season
- 2017 12–2, No. 3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Oklahoma | 12–2 | 1st | Rose Bowl, CFP Semifinal L | 3 | |
| 2018 | Oklahoma | 12–2 | 1st | Orange Bowl, CFP Semifinal L | 4 | |
| 2019 | Oklahoma | 12–2 | 1st | Peach Bowl, CFP Semifinal L | 7 | |
| 2020 | Oklahoma | 9–2 | 2nd | Cotton Bowl W | 6 | |
| 2021 | Oklahoma | 10–2 | 3rd | Alamo (not coached) | ||
| 2022 | USC | 11–3 | 1st | Cotton Bowl L | 12 | |
| 2023 | USC | 8–5 | T–4th | Holiday Bowl W | ||
| 2024 | USC | 7–6 | T–9th | Las Vegas Bowl W | ||
| 2025 | USC | 9–4 | T–4th | Alamo Bowl L | 20 | |
| 2026 | USC | 6–1 |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Baker Mayfield
Caleb Williams
Kyler Murray
Jalen Hurts
Makai Lemon
Mark Andrews
CeeDee Lamb
Orlando Brown
Ben Powers
Tuli Tuipulotu
Marquise Brown
Kenneth Murray
- Bishop FitzgeraldConsensus All‑American, 2025
- Jordan AddisonNo. 23 pick, 2023
- Eddie Czaplicki2024 Ray Guy Award
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 40 | 20–20 | 50% |
| Against top-10 teams | 15 | 6–9 | 40% |
| Against rivals | 30 | 19–11 | 63% |
| Conference games | 84 | 64–20 | 76% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 8 | 3–5 | 38% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 53 | 36–17 | 68% |
| At home | 63 | 55–8 | 87% |
| On the road | 43 | 29–14 | 67% |
| At neutral sites | 19 | 12–7 | 63% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 100 | 86–14 | 86% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 25 | 10–15 | 40% |
His own 125 games on file, 2017–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Campbell 2017–2026 | 5–2 | Iowa State, Penn State | 7 | |
| Gary Patterson 2017–2021 | 6–0 | TCU | 6 | |
| Matt Rhule 2017–2025 | 6–0 | Baylor, Nebraska | 6 | |
| Mike Gundy 2017–2021 | 4–1 | Oklahoma State | 5 | |
| Tom Herman 2017–2020 | 4–1 | Texas | 5 | |
| Chip Kelly 2018–2023 | 3–1 | UCLA | 4 | |
| Jedd Fisch 2022–2026 | 3–1 | Arizona, Washington | 4 | |
| Marcus Freeman 2022–2025 | 1–3 | Notre Dame | 4 | |
| Dana Holgorsen 2017–2019 | 3–0 | West Virginia, Houston | 3 | |
| Willie Fritz 2017–2022 | 2–1 | Tulane | 3 |
Lincoln Riley’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| TCUseries | 7 | 6–1 |
| UCLAseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Baylorseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Texasseries | 6 | 5–1 |
| Iowa Stateseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Kansasseries | 5 | 5–0 |
| Texas Techseries | 5 | 5–0 |
| Oklahoma Stateseries | 5 | 4–1 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2015 Oklahoma: Broyles Award
How he was hired
- Hired by Oklahoma for the 2017 season from Oklahoma, where he was offensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.
- Hired by USC for the 2022 season from Oklahoma, where he was head coach. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–05 | Texas Tech | Student assistant | |
| 2006 | Texas Tech | Graduate assistant | |
| 2007 | Texas Tech | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2008–09 | Texas Tech | Inside receivers coach | |
| 2010–13 | East Carolina | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2014 | East Carolina | Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2015–16 | Oklahoma | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2017–21 | Oklahoma | Head coach | |
| 2022–present | USC | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Mike LeachTexas Tech
- Ruffin McNeillTexas Tech, East Carolina
- Bob StoopsOklahoma
Assistants who became head coaches
- Chris WoodsTexas State, Mansfield, Stonehill
- Mike StoopsArizona
- Ruffin McNeillTexas Tech, East Carolina
- Tim KishArizona
- Bob DiacoUConn
- Shane BeamerSouth Carolina
- Donte WilliamsUSC
- Kliff KingsburyTexas Tech, Arizona Cardinals
- Matt EntzFresno State, North Dakota State
- Gary PattersonTCU
Worked under (3)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Leach | Texas Tech | 2003–09 | 2003–05: student assistant; 2006: graduate assistant; 2007: wide receivers coach; 2008–09: inside receivers coach | |
| Ruffin McNeill | Texas Tech | 2009 | Inside receivers coach | |
| Ruffin McNeill | East Carolina | 2010–14 | 2010–13: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2014: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Bob Stoops | Oklahoma | 2015–16 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (10)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Woods | Oklahoma, 2017: defensive specialist | Texas State, Mansfield, Stonehill | |
| Mike Stoops | Oklahoma, 2017–18: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | Arizona | |
| Ruffin McNeill | Oklahoma, 2017: assistant head coach and defensive tackles coach; 2018: assistant head coach, defensive tackles coach and interim defensive coordinator; 2019: assistant head coach and outside linebackers coach | Texas Tech, East Carolina | |
| Tim Kish | Oklahoma, 2017–18: inside linebackers coach | Arizona | |
| Bob Diaco | Oklahoma, 2018: outside linebackers coach | UConn | |
| Shane Beamer | Oklahoma, 2018–20: assistant head coach and tight ends coach | South Carolina | |
| Donte Williams | USC, 2022–23: defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator | USC | |
| Kliff Kingsbury | USC, 2023: senior offensive analyst | Texas Tech, Arizona Cardinals | |
| Matt Entz | USC, 2024: assistant head coach and linebackers coach | Fresno State, North Dakota State | |
| Gary Patterson | USC, 2026: defensive coordinator | TCU |
Other assistants under him (18)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Bedenbaugh | Oklahoma, 2017–21: co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Cale Gundy | Oklahoma, 2017–21: offensive coordinator, inside receivers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Kerry Cooks | Oklahoma, 2017–18: assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Ty Darlington | Oklahoma, 2017–19: offensive analyst; 2020–21: graduate assistant | |
| Alex Grinch | Oklahoma, 2019–21: defensive coordinator; USC, 2022–23: defensive coordinator | |
| Brian Odom | Oklahoma, 2019–21: inside linebackers coach; USC, 2022–23: co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Conner McQueen | Oklahoma, 2020–21: offensive assistant; USC, 2022: graduate assistant | |
| Jamar Cain | Oklahoma, 2020–21: outside linebackers and defensive ends coach | |
| Joe Jon Finley | Oklahoma, 2021: tight ends coach | |
| Josh Henson | USC, 2022–24: offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Luke Huard | USC, 2022–23: inside receivers coach; 2024: quarterbacks coach; 2025–26: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Shaun Nua | USC, 2022–26: defensive line coach; 2023: interim co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Greg Brown | USC, 2023: analyst | |
| D’Anton Lynn | USC, 2024–25: defensive coordinator | |
| Doug Belk | USC, 2024–25: defensive backs coach | |
| Eric Henderson | USC, 2024–25: co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Rob Ryan | USC, 2025–26: assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach | |
| Mike Ekeler | USC, 2026: special teams coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Oklahoma | head coachbonuses up to $700,000; buyout $15,041,666 | $2,116,666 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Oklahoma | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $119,000 | $905,000 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Oklahoma | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $70,000 | $500,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | East Carolina | offensive coordinator | $278,800 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Riley’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 47% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 52% of plays and took 26.6 seconds a play, 2017–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 14 g | Oklahoma | 22 of 85 26% | 40% | 47% | 27.1 | +0.34 | |
| 2018 14 g | Oklahoma | 16 of 65 25% | 54% | 46% | 25.8 | +0.41 | |
| 2019 14 g | Oklahoma | 12 of 68 18% | 26% | 43% | 27.4 | +0.28 | |
| 2020 11 g | Oklahoma | 10 of 74 14% | 31% | 50% | 26.7 | +0.20 | |
| 2021 13 g | Oklahoma | 16 of 77 21% | 47% | 52% | 26.0 | +0.25 | |
| 2022 14 g | USC | 23 of 78 29% | 59% | 56% | 26.8 | +0.31 | |
| 2023 13 g | USC | 18 of 73 25% | 48% | 61% | 26.1 | +0.23 | |
| 2024 13 g | USC | 17 of 82 21% | 43% | 61% | 25.7 | +0.10 | |
| 2025 13 g | USC | 22 of 70 31% | 59% | 52% | 26.9 | +0.24 | |
| 2026 7 g | USC | 16 of 37 43% | 79% | 51% | 27.7 | +0.23 | |
| All 126 g | 172 of 709 24% | 47% | 52% | 26.6 | +0.27 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.