USC athletic director Mike Bohn and legendary former Trojans football coach Pete Carroll had developed a relationship through this protracted coaching search the last two and a half months as the school ... well, looked to find the next Pete Carroll.
And so the AD and the last coach to lead the Trojans to a national championship were playing phone tag a couple weekends ago as rumors started intensifying nationally about who Bohn was or wasn't going to be able to hire.
"He's got his own program to run but he was so respectful and he wants what's best for USC," Bohn says of Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks head coach. "... Coach was engaged in watching the process unfold."
Bohn, meanwhile, had been a bit consumed himself with the task at hand, especially that weekend as USC was quietly but diligently preparing to shock the college football world. But with the job complete by some point early that Sunday and with only a matter of time before it inevitably leaked out that USC had hired Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma, there was a window to share the news with just a select few.
Bohn got on the phone with Carroll.
"Pete's energy, passion, true excitement and genuine thrill that Lincoln was coming to USC was really uplifting," Bohn says, sharing the anecdote a couple days after formally introducing Riley as USC's head coach. "It was just, it was very, very special and I really salute and appreciate Pete's energy and his genuine excitement about Lincoln coming to USC. And he touched me -- and I know his affinity for USC will touch Lincoln as well."
In another room, executive senior associate AD/chief of staff Brandon Sosna was making a call of his own. He doesn't specify to whom, but he notes it was somebody "who is a long-time supporter of ours, who helps us out with so many things." In picking up the story from his perspective, Sosna reflects back to a conversation he had with the gentleman while standing on the sideline at Notre Dame back in October when the man suggested to him, "Lincoln Riley's the guy. You should make that happen."
Sosna smiles thinking back on it now -- as he probably did in the moment then -- because Riley was rarely mentioned by fans or media in connection with USC's coaching search. Quite frankly, that outcome just seemed far-fetched ... even if he was the first choice for the Trojans administration all along, as they say.
Bohn and Sosna had kept a tight lid on all aspects of the coaching search, such that Bohn says he didn't even share with his family the plans to make a run at Riley -- not intentionally, at least.
"No, I would never put them in a situation with that. But I'd be disingenuous if I ... my wife hears different things just because she happens to be in a certain area when I'm taking a call and don't want to miss one," Bohn says. "But she knows and my entire family understands the importance of confidentiality and they just want the best for USC and best for our family."
The point being, the secret had been well-kept -- especially as it wasn't clear even to Bohn or Sosna that they could entice Riley to consider the job amidst an immensely successful 55-10 run as the Sooners head coach the last five years -- until it actually happened and the Twitter reports soon started to multiply rapidly late that Sunday morning.
So Sosna was on the phone in one room of the USC athletics offices, on his call, while Bohn was on the phone in another, finally ready to divulge the details while it was still their surprise to reveal.
"There was a period of time between when Lincoln was informing the team [at Oklahoma] and it would get out there that there were just a few phone calls that we wanted to make," Sosna says. " I was on the phone with [the USC athletics supporter] when all of a sudden I just heard an eruption from the other room with Mike and Pete. ... I think that moment with Pete was representative of just how that response has been across of all our former [Trojans].
"Obviously, we're about our current team and we wanted to deliver a coach worthy of their talent, but for all of our former players securing a coach that's going to lead us to the level of play and the style of play that they expect, as a leader that is a really fulfilling thing."
There wasn't much time for celebration on their part, though.
Later that night, Bohn, Sosna and USC director of player personnel Spencer Harris were on a private plane to Oklahoma to bring the prize of this wild 2021 coaching carousel back to Los Angeles.
Days later, after the whirlwind had subsided somewhat and the shock of it all had started to give way to reality, USC's athletics leaders shared in exclusive interviews with TrojanSports.com their perspective on the "frenetic" 24 hours or so that followed the resounding kaboom they dropped on the college football world.
Starting with that phone call to Carroll, the coach who most recently established the expectations Riley will now be chasing ...
"We were in the process of playing phone tag and the timing of it just worked out perfect, so I think there's some irony in that," Bohn says of that call. "Obviously some positive Trojan karma there, which is actually very, very interesting when you think about it."
'It was very frenetic and a lot was going on'
Bohn still won't share any details about the most important call of all -- the one in which USC made its clearly very compelling pitch to Riley.
Not any details, even whether it was one call, several calls, how long they talked, etc. Just that it happened that Sunday, Nov. 28.
"No, I think it's just a matter that it was very frenetic and a lot was going on and we were laser-focused, all of us. That's the best way to describe it," he says. "We're going to keep all the details of our conversations private because it was just a busy time and I think again the most important thing is that USC and our competitive drive collectively across all of our constituents to pursue a national championship is something that was a key for us and I'm excited about that."
What has been said publicly is that USC's plan truly came into focus once Oklahoma lost its regular-season finale to rival Oklahoma State that Saturday night, eliminating the Sooners from the Big 12 championship picture and providing an opening for the Trojans to take their shot.
Riley would say during his introductory news conference that he got home "late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, and got the information from USC that there was some real interest so talked a little bit about it early that morning, slept for a couple hours and then had a chance to jump on a Zoom."
"It was, to be honest, a little bit of a blur," he said, echoing the sentiments of Bohn and Sosna.
Sosna would say that Monday afternoon that he had still only slept three hours since waking up Saturday morning, from pacing in the AD's suite in the Coliseum with the OU-OSU game on the TV that night to finalizing the presentation and pitch for Riley late into the night/ensuing morning.
"Honestly, it's still hard to believe," Sosna said then.
This USC fan base, which had largely maintained only cautious optimism these last few months after the scars of everything that had transpired in the decade-plus since Carroll's hallowed run, would probably concur.
Even Bohn and Sosna could only be cautiously optimistic for this particular outcome, for that matter, as the deal probably doesn't happen if Oklahoma wins that last game.
"I think there was always a question mark from Day 1 and I think that's what made the search so competitive and so exciting to be a part of, but also so challenging in the sense that you just didn't know," Bohn says over the phone days later. "I think that's what creates a lot of angst, a lot of excitement, a lot of sleepless nights."
Of course, that range of emotions was quite different later that Sunday night when Bohn, Sosna and Harris boarded a 14-seat private plane to Oklahoma to bring home Riley, his family and the first of the Oklahoma coaches who would accompany him in the move to Los Angeles.
"It was really nice. It was really an opportunity to spend time with Brandon and reflect, but on the other hand we were planning moving forward and so it was a continuation of a competitive spirit, a competitive drive and an aspiration to do everything we could to ensure that Lincoln and his family and the program had every detail in place moving forward, just like it is now," Bohn says.
Says Sosna: "It was a business trip. There was a lot of work that we got accomplished on that flight because you spend so much time preparing for the day you make the hire, and certainly we put a lot of time into preparing for the rollout and the on-boarding, but it still starts happening at 100 miles an hour. And so we had learned that Lincoln had a desire to bring some coaches with him, so we had to work on how we can as quickly as possible get those coaches to Los Angeles and have them on-boarded so they can hit the road recruiting."
Sosna doesn't remember for sure what airport they even landed at -- he thinks it was probably right in Norman, Okla., but again, it's been a blur. The USC contingent got in around 10 p.m. local time and went straight to the hotel.
Sosna did another 3-4 hours of work to prepare for the conversations that would be had on the plane ride home, before he, Bohn and Harris returned to the airport at 5:40 a.m. to depart with Riley and the rest of the traveling party.
So, again, there wasn't much time to even exhale or reflect, but Sosna does recall one anecdote in the flurry of the evening that makes him smile.
"When I was in line checking in for the hotel and I had my USC bag, and this couple standing behind me -- I wasn't looking at them, I hadn't made eye contact -- but from behind me as I'm waiting to get my key for my room, I hear, 'So you all got yourself a new football coach.' And I turned around and said, 'Yes, we did,'" he shares. "And they said 'We're not upset about it,' and she opened up her jacket and she was wearing an Oklahoma State shirt. That was a moment of levity."
'There was a process. There was a build'
Aside from perhaps the range of rumors and "reports" that emerged during that two-and-a-half-month coaching search -- from the names that had some legitimacy to the more abjectly erroneous ones like Jeff Fisher or Mike Tomlin that hit the Twitter cycle -- there wasn't much levity for Bohn through all of this.
He was afforded minimal benefit of the doubt from a fan base that had been through three straight unsuccessful coaching hires since Carroll's run ended -- each moving the program even further from those glory days both literally and figuratively.
There was also the built-up criticism from many fans that it took Bohn two years into his tenure to move on from embattled coach Clay Helton and start this process of finding a new head coach and new direction for Trojans football.
(Dissecting the complexity of whatever behind-the-scenes factors may have contributed to that timeline is a separate matter of debate unto itself.)
"I'm certainly aware of different views on a lot of different pieces, but in the end we really worked hard to run a program and encourage people to understand all the different things we're doing and our commitment to try to compete for a national championship," Bohn says in regard to that outside noise. "I think when we keep our eye on all those different aspects associated with trying to build that, that eventually you begin to build momentum and sustain a vision and it becomes contagious."
Sosna is a bit more candid on that matter, meanwhile.
"From a personal standpoint, it's really hard to watch people you care about get treated unfairly from people who don't know them, who maybe don't have a strong sense of understanding of our vision and our plan. And there were times that it was painful," he says. "We always say don't read the newspapers and don't read the Twitter mentions, but human beings are human beings and it's hard not to be affected by that. For him to be able to emerge from a lot of that, which really covered up so many of the incredible things that he's done over the last two years ...
"Again, we understand the majority of our constituents care about what happens in the football program, but everything that he has accomplished through incredibly adverse conditions, both what he inherited upon his arrival but also navigating a once-in-a-generation pandemic, which was hard and the most volatile time in the history of college athletics ... for all of that to culminate with the hiring of who we believe is the best coach in the country, I'm just really thrilled for him."
The full details will always remain hazy as to what actually went into the decisions to retain Helton after a 5-7 season in 2018 (a year before Bohn arrived), after a middling 8-5 season in 2019 that ended on a down note and with the lowest-ranked recruiting class for USC on record (a decision that had to be made just weeks after Bohn was hired), or after the more encouraging 5-1 pandemic season with a top-10 national recruiting class last year.
When it comes to factors like how much the Helton contract extension given by former AD Lynn Swann after the 2017 season and running through the 2023 season hindered true consideration of making a move earlier, how the implications of the pandemic played a role, or what the preferences and considerations were through the larger USC power structure at various points, Bohn and Sosna will never address those matters directly.
But now that it's all over, they were each asked last week for their perspective as to why this fall -- when they moved quickly to fire Helton just two games into the season -- was more conducive to conducting this high-profile national coaching search than in those previous years.
"I think again there's just so many things that have transpired -- COVID, obviously the developments on the field, but in the end I think when you have a president and a board chair and so many other people on this campus, off campus, as I talked about before, leaders that are passionate about all things USC, to include USC football, it's just so helpful and gratifying to be part of that team," Bohn says.
Bohn has made a consistent point to highlight the “alignment” he feels he, USC President Carol Folt and Chairman of the USC Board of Trustees Rick Caruso have developed over his now two years at the university.
Meanwhile, Sosna again went a little deeper into his response, at least getting to the edges of addressing why now vs. those aforementioned points when the fan base was clamoring so loudly for change.
"I think so many times in the coaching world we focus so much on whether a coach should be retained or not and there's so much conversation and really much to the detriment of human beings -- everybody just wants to fire people all the time and I think that's a sad part of our industry and the way that it's followed by a lot of people," he said after Riley's introductory press conference two Mondays ago. "And I understand that passion is part of that. I always say we have to accept passion in all its forms -- we can't love it when it's in our favor and wish it were different when it's not. But I think that there's a second phase of that, which is who you're going to get as your coach.
"You hear all the time 'I've got a list in my desk, in my drawer.' It's great to have a list, but it's about how you actually recruit somebody successful to be your coach. Can you get that first choice on this list? So we had to be really thoughtful about how we positioned ourselves so that one day we could be standing up here introducing somebody like Lincoln Riley to be our new head coach."
He added that they didn't want USC to become one of the programs that is constantly firing and hiring coaches -- they had to get this decision right. He also used that buzzword -- "alignment" -- and how it's developed over these last two years while reiterating the role Folt and Caruso played behind the scenes and their consistent availability through that weekend to expedite this to the finish line.
"There was a process. There was a build," Sosna continued. "In everything that we do it's about increasing the probability of getting to a successful outcome. And the program that we have today vs. what we had two years ago simply gave us a better probability of being able to achieve this outcome. I would argue and this is a question you'd have to ask Lincoln, but I don't think two years ago Lincoln Riley would be the head coach of USC."
Indeed, timing is everything.
As the story goes, Bohn and Sosna first started taking a serious look at Riley back when they were at Cincinnati trying to hire a head coach after the 2016 season.
Riley, then a rising star as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator, didn't take their call at the time. He'd soon be elevated to head coach to succeed retiring Sooners legend Bob Stoops, launching his five-year tenure that included four Big 12 titles and three College Football Playoff appearances.
"I think anytime you're trying to engage with a very successful coach that you respect and admire, you recognize that when you aim high sometimes that doesn't come together, but you still never lose that real respect that you have for someone that's so talented," Bohn says.
This time, Riley took the call -- however it unfolded. This time, the high aim hit the mark.
And however long it took to get to this point, that previously tepid USC fan base has been in near-euphoric celebration since, while highly-rated recruits who had months earlier moved on from USC are now taking a fresh look at the Trojans, season ticket sales are on the upswing again and USC football is once more a subject of positive discussion across the national sports media.
"I think you recognize that there's really one coach that you really aspire to be able to attract, but we know how successful he was at Oklahoma and obviously you understand that there's so many complexities to put that together," Bohn says. "But he deserves so much credit and so much recognition for his courage, his drive to win a national championship. ... I think Lincoln deserves so much credit."
'There's so much energy and passion and excitement that it just drives you'
Two years of mounting pressure are also lifted from Bohn, though he won't offer much introspection in that regard or publicly accept his own credit.
As he walked out to the practice field the day after Riley's introductory press conference, greeting reporters, he was asked how he was enjoying his victory lap.
He smiled and kept walking.
Many of those who were previously critical of Bohn or at the least unwilling to put their trust in the outcome of this coaching search are now giving him his earned praise on Twitter, on message boards, etc., for restoring optimism to a beleaguered fan base.
But speaking over the phone two days after introducing Riley, Bohn deflects a question about whether this coaching hire is a crowning career achievement for him.
"I'm not sure it really feels like that. I recognize the significance of it, but I'm just really proud to have worked with so many people and have so many different great Trojans that created a sense of momentum and a sense of confidence to be able to try and pull this together," he says. "My hat's off to our former players, former coaches, alumni, students, faculty, donors, fans, media even that just really created an environment and a brand and a program that is attractive for a coach to want to join."
USC fans certainly had their doubts whether that was still the way this job was viewed.
This still has to succeed on the field -- there are truly no guarantees in college football -- but ultimately Bohn was charged with restoring faith, interest and investment in the program, and whether it's an excited Pete Carroll on the other end of the phone, former Trojans like Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush sharing their support on social media or a fanbase that is at least willing to dream big again, Bohn delivered USC football its biggest win in quite some time.
Once again, where the veteran AD kept his comments reserved, Sosna had more to say in terms of what this means for Bohn in a broader perspective.
"I know the way that Mike would answer that, which is it's not about him -- it's about USC. But as somebody for whom my career wouldn't be possible without him, I thought that getting the USC job was really the crowning achievement of his career because many people enter this industry and have ambitions of being athletics administrators and athletic directors, but there are only four or five of these jobs in the entire world at this level," he says. "So I thought it was extraordinary that he ended up here at this point in his career, and if that was the crowning achievement I don't really know the superlative for this."
Maybe there will be more time down the road for Bohn to fully reflect in that way.
But as he, Sosna and Harris met Riley, his family, new USC defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, inside receivers coach Dennis Simmons, strength coach Bennie Wylie and director of football operations Clarke Stroud before dawn two Mondays ago at the airport to leave Oklahoma, less than a day after seizing the college football spotlight, there was shared excitement and more relationship building but ultimately no time to waste.
Bohn says Riley and Harris were already "deep into recruiting" discussions soon into that flight while the group sorted through the compliance logistics of who could go out on the road recruiting as the new coach wanted to hit the ground running.
Sure enough, Riley would go on his first in-home visit with a prospect later that Monday evening, after his introductory press conference. By the end of the week, Riley had landed commitments from five-star 2022 RB Raleek Brown (Mater Dei HS), five-star 2023 QB Malachi Nelson (Los Alamitos HS) and four-star 2023 WR Makai Lemon (Los Alamitos HS) -- all former Oklahoma commits -- while traveling all over the country from Las Vegas to Georgia to Texas to see other recruits before a big recruiting event back on campus Sunday evening.
Bohn added there was "a great deal of adrenaline rush" on that flight in immediately going to work on this new era of USC football.
"We planned for that to be a working flight, and it had to be the fastest 2.5-hour flight that I've ever been on," Sosna says. "We had prepared these binders, six of them, for Lincoln, myself, Spencer Harris and three others to go through the entire program from the compliance portion of the on-boarding to a full evaluation of the roster and recruiting information. So we were able to use that time very productively. ...
"Even when you have more of an opportunity to spend time with a candidate, having direct conversations, there's still so much about a job that you never get to. Before I got to USC, all the things that I had no idea about that you have to learn, how they operate, how to navigate around certain things, and every school has unique elements to it that you have to learn how to negotiate, and so we were able to identify a few of those and begin working on them. I think it was a hugely productive two and a half hours."
There would be at least some opportunity to bask in the excitement later that day in Los Angeles.
USC had given some of its top boosters and supporters relatively short notice of a quick gathering in the AD's suite inside the Coliseum prior to the mid-afternoon press conference where they could be the first to meet Riley.
"We gave everybody I think just 8 hours to 12 hours notice maybe about when it would be and the turnout we got was unbelievable," Sosna says. "Everybody showed up. Matt Leinart was there, Mark Sanchez was there, many of the people who support us at the highest level all made it a priority to be there. ... We struggled to get out of there to get upstairs to the press conference because everybody wanted to shake his hand and take a picture, but it was a great opportunity and I think he was really moved by how many people showed up for that, and certainly the reception after the press conference in the Coliseum Club as well was extremely well attended and was a really fun and festive atmosphere."
“Really fun and festive” sums up the rejuvenated mood of this once downtrodden Trojans fan base well.
But Bohn is quick to reiterate that the job of reviving USC football has only just begun.
Ask him what his reaction was that Sunday morning when this all actually came together, when their first choice said yes, when two and half months of pressure and stress (surely many more months, for that matter) lifted, and just like with any other details of those discussions with Riley, Bohn won't get too deep into it.
"Obviously, we were excited, but I think that excitement is one that inspires you to continue to do all the things that are important moving forward and try to assure that we have all the details associated put together with the plan moving forward," he says.
“Sometimes that can be extremely challenging, but yet there's so much energy and passion and excitement that it just drives you."
