After USC’s Wednesday bowl practice, a day after wide receiver Zachariah Branch, safety Zion Branch and defensive tackle Elijah Hughes pushed the Trojans’ transfer departures total to 18, coach Lincoln Riley talked at length at adapting to the new world of college football and making tough financial decisions.
Watch the full interview here and scroll down for a complete transcript of his comments.
Lincoln, how do you just feel like this first week and a half of the transfer portal being open has gone for you?
“I don't know that I take generalizations on it. I mean, it's just kind of the new world that we live in. The reality is is you're going to go through some transfers to come in. You're going to have people that exit your program. It's just part of the world. So I've learned to not really carry emotion. A lot of these are business decisions, I think, like I've said before, on both sides and when those things happen you just have to understand it, understand that this is becoming more of a business obviously than it's ever been. And so I don't get too high or too low with when good news comes across my desk or tough news comes across my desk. I think it's my job to stay steady and stay committed to the vision and that's what we're doing. Best part of the day still remains these practices. These guys are practicing their ass off. They've kind of been disappointed each day when I blow the list of their practice. So I'm excited about the team, excited about the guys we have out here and obviously excited about the guys that are coming in.”
At this point, a large majority of the guys from '22 and '23, the top guys that you've recruited have hit the portal by now. Is there anything that you think about differently going forward in terms of recruiting, strategy, valuation in the future? Or is it just a facet to you of how the portal is operating? What do you do different as a program?
“Yeah, no, listen. I think everybody's having to adapt. I think everybody's having to determine where they place value on certain positions, on certain people, and that's just the nature of it. The NFL's been doing it forever, right? You see the discussion on how much did you pay a starting quarterback in the NFL? How much is a running back worth? How much is a receiver worth? If a guy has this type of production then what percentage of a salary cap does that entitle them to or does that make sense for the program to be able to give to them? And so yeah, it's very cut and dry. It's very production based.
“Everybody's going to have their philosophies. Obviously, that was a lot different when I first came here. When it was everybody had their 85 scholarships and you knew what you had and you go fill 'em the best you can and build the best team you have, and you're still building a best team. But now the means of how you're doing that, the way you're doing that have shifted, I mean completely. I mean, it's a totally different mindset in doing it. And so yeah, are we adapting? Certainly. Are some of the decisions that we made a few years ago, would we have made those in this current climate? No, we definitely would've done different things.
“I don't know that we all knew that this was coming in some form. I don't think any of us could have predicted, I guess, just how quickly it's changed or how fundamentally it's changed. And so yeah, I think the whole world, the whole college football world is trying to adapt right now, which is honestly, I think for everybody a little difficult to keep up with.”
Do you see a lot of these decisions being influenced by money, NIL, what have you?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean they have on both sides. Like I told you guys, every school as you have a budget and this is what we got to spend and you got to decide, it's tough because we're not completely professional. When a lot of these guys were signed, it wasn't in a professional manner. It was sitting in their living rooms, like relationships. It was program, it was the academics, it was the development, all those things. And now all of a sudden it's like it's shifted midstream. So I think that's what maybe has made it, I think that is what's made it maybe tough on everybody involved right now. Players, coaches, schools, everybody, because a lot of these guys were brought in under a different system and now that's changed. And so now there's a financial component to every decision that we make and every decision that a player makes.
“And that doesn't always mean that it's the most important thing. Again, that's going to change between each player, each family, but for us, that's the mindset you got to have. We got to salary cap and we got to look at production and we got to look at positions. We got to look on value to the team. I mean, all of those things. And so it's been fun kind of putting that together and really deciding what our philosophies are going to be on it. But it's just having to transition in the middle without a lot of clear-cut rules has added some challenges for all of us.”
When you're making those decisions, Is it just mainly talking to Dave? Is it a group of guys?
“Yeah, no, our entire personnel team. And then working certainly with Jen, with Jay Hilbrands and administration because obviously they play a key role in that. And so yeah, we've got a team of people together. We did a lot of consulting or used a lot of consultants in the offseason in terms of people in the NFL, people that have done this for a long time, people in the business world, and you try to think about it different ways, and I think the tough thing now is what your philosophy was or your standards are kind of maybe what you thought some of these markets were going to be, even in September to now have so drastically changed and it's not defined.
“And so you're working within parameters that are in no way defined. I think why it's kind of had the negative vibe around it, meaning just kind of college football and this whole situation is to me it's not like the money or the amounts or none of that. It's I think just a lack of clarity that everybody has. And when we finally get that in some form, that'll make it a lot better for all parties involved. Schools, coaches, players, everyone.”
When it comes to that lack of clarity with valuations, how difficult is it when the market is moving constantly? Do you often trend more towards being conservative and not increasing the offers when the market is going off? Or how do you balance the sticking to your guns?
“Well, for us it's a little bit more percentage based. It's more based on, we can't always control the amount of money that's out there, what all the decisions we've made on in terms of caps and what you've got to spend and all that. And so I think it's more about, alright, a hundred percent of this cap, what I feel that a left tackle is worth and what do I feel that this player at this position is worth to this program? I think we have really tried to stick to that because you can't let emotions get too much into it and you can't get too tied to one player because one piece affects everything.
“Before, again, it was 85 scholarships. This one scholarship don't affect the other 84. If that one's not there, the other 84 is still exactly the same. Now you overpay for the wrong person, it affects every other one on the roster. And so at some point it's got to come back into production for the USC football program. And so yeah, there's a lot of different ways to look at it. It is, again, with clarity, I think that will help us all. But you have to stick to your standards and have to stay steady because right now you wake up every day, you never know what's coming.”
