USC ushers in the Lincoln Riley era: 'This sleeping giant is wide awake'
One of the first calls USC senior associate athletic director Brandon Sosna made Sunday, once he knew this was actually happening -- that the Trojans were about to stun the college football world and hire Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma -- was to longtime sports information director Tim Tessalone.
For weeks, Tessalone had been preparing bios on prospective coaches, just based on the same media coverage and banter that fans were anxiously following from afar. As Sosna and athletic director Mike Bohn were determined to keep a tight lid on whatever was actually happening in this coaching search, not even Tessalone knew what had been in the works.
"One of the first calls I made was to Tim and Tim is usually a typically very level-headed, calm, even-keeled guy and he actually didn't respond at all. Later on he was like, 'I couldn't even process it,'" Sosna would share Monday afternoon. "He had written bios for all these candidates and obviously hadn't written one for Lincoln."
Who could have known that USC -- the program whose beleaguered fans had started to fear or even expect the worst from this two-and-a-half-month coaching search -- was about to pull off the coup of all coups and steal away perhaps the most respected young coach in the sport from a perennial College Football Playoff contender?
Bohn and Sosna say that was the plan all along, even if they themselves didn't know it could actually work in the end.
"It was never our goal to change the landscape of college football with one of the biggest moves in the history of the game -- but we did exactly that," Bohn proclaimed in his opening remarks Monday in formally introducing Riley in a ceremony atop the Coliseum. "... It sends a loud and powerful message to the college football world that this sleeping giant is wide awake, standing up and fighting on."
WATCH: Lincoln Riley's full introductory press conference | USC AD Mike Bohn shares more perspective on the Riley hiring | Senior associate AD Brandon Sosna shares his perspective on the Riley pursuit
RELATED: Column: USC AD Mike Bohn wins the coaching carousel with the Lincoln Riley hire | Lincoln Riley talks recruiting plans | Riley discusses plans for coaching staff | PODCAST: Putting USC's stunning Lincoln Riley hire in full perspective with analyst Max Browne
Rick Caruso, the chairman of the USC Board of Trustees and behind-the-scenes power broker, corrected Bohn's statement.
"I don't believe for one minute that Mike didn't intend to rock the sports world. Yes, he did, because that man thinks big, and I've got to tell you coach, his eyes were on you," Caruso said in addressing the room. "Whether you knew it or not, he wanted the best and the brightest and we got it with you and we're so grateful you believed in us."
Sosna, whom Bohn called "the architect of a brilliant search process," was asked when they turned their attention to Riley -- a coach who won the Big 12 championship in each of his first four seasons as Oklahoma head coach, who reached the CFP three times in that span, produced two Heisman Trophy winners and a runner-up, led some of the highest-scoring offenses in the country and went 55-10 overall in five years with the Sooners.
"It was 2014 and I was interning for Mike Bohn at the University of Cincinnati the first time Lincoln Riley's name came up," Sosna joked, noting that they would later consider Riley for their coaching vacancy there after the 2016 season before ultimately hiring Luke Fickell.
As for this search process?
"It was always No. 1," Sosna said. "We call that Tier 0 and he was No. 1 in Tier 0. There's Tier 0 and there's Tier 1. He was No. 1 in Tier 0."
Things went a little differently this time around ...
"We had a little bit of a joke about that. He didn't take our call [at Cincinnati]," Sosna said. "He didn't take our call, which at the time we didn't know that he was probably a few months away from being the head coach at Oklahoma, which made a lot of sense."
Riley took the call this time.
"President [Carol] Folt challenged me -- said get the best, get the best. So that was Lincoln Riley. No question. So he was No. 1 when obviously that was our goal. No question," Bohn said
Riley, sitting next to him on the dais, chimed in "You probably wouldn't tell them if I was 2 or 3, would you?"
Bohn let out a deep laugh. "Are we going to have some fun with a guy like Lincoln Riley or what?" he said.
Yes, Monday was a victory lap -- a well-earned victory lap -- for Bohn, Sosna, Caruso, USC President Carol Folt and everybody else involved in this USC search process.
Monday was a day to think big about the future of USC football again ... and for everybody to varying degrees to wrap their heads around what had transpired over the previous 36 hours or so.
Sosna wouldn't get into full specifics of exactly when or how that call with Riley came together other than to say it was Sunday morning.
The previous night, Bohn and Sosna had watched on television from the AD's suite inside the Coliseum, during the early part of USC's game with BYU, as Oklahoma lost, 37-33, to Oklahoma State. That knocked the Sooners out of the Big 12 championship picture and gave the Trojans their opportunity.
"It sort of felt a little bit like Ender's Game," Sosna said, referencing the science fiction novel and movie by the same name. "When Oklahoma State won that game it sort of felt like, hey, the enemy's gates are down, let's go get it done. ...
"I'm not sure anybody really understood why we were so attentive to that game. I think in hindsight my pacing back and forth may have made a lot more sense to people."
Indeed, no one could have suspected this. The fan base was in a downward spiral by that point as buzz had shifted from Friday that USC was trending toward hiring Iowa State's Matt Campbell before the rumor mill changed sharply Saturday morning with tweets claiming that Campbell had said no to the Trojans.
Sosna would say Monday that following the rumors and media/fan conjecture through the search process provided him some levity and amusement amidst the stress of the search. Whatever did or did not transpire between USC and Campbell, or any other candidate, it sure seems unlikely any other offer was ever made if the Trojans thought they could land Riley -- one of the most heralded coaches in the sport and surely the absolute best possible outcome of this search.
But why did Bohn and Sosna even think they had a shot to pry Riley away from a program where he had things rolling, going 12-2, 12-2, 12-2, 9-2 and 10-2 in his five seasons there?
"That was our mission. There was never any indication that it couldn't happen -- certainly there wasn't any indication that it was viable either -- but that wasn't going to deter us," Sosna said. "I think that we felt that we had a really good plan and I think we felt that we had an opportunity -- an opportunity that really made a lot of sense for a lot of reasons. I think in this case logic prevailed."
With all due respect, nothing about this seems logical.
This kind of thing just doesn't happen in college football very often -- an established coach at the peak of his powers at one blue blood program leaving for another. Or at least it didn't before -- Notre Dame's Brian Kelly would follow the same blueprint Monday in leaving the Fighting Irish for LSU.
Texas A&M stealing Jimbo Fisher after the 2017 season away from Florida State, where he had won a national championship, kind of fits the mold, but Fisher was in the midst of a 5-6 season with the Seminoles and there was a lot going on behind the scenes there.
In Riley's case, nobody saw this coming -- certainly not Oklahoma and certainly not USC fans.
Even Riley himself seemed to still be processing it Monday.
As he stepped to the microphone for his first comments from atop the Coliseum, he turned behind him to look out on the field, his name lit up on the stadium's video boards, the Los Angeles skyline crisp and clear in the background on one side, the distant Hollywood sign on the other.
"Wow, is this real? Unbelievable," he said. "This is a surreal moment, to be honest. I'm so honored to be the next head football coach here at USC. It means a great deal to me."
Later, standing off to the side with a group of reporters after the formal press conference, Riley was asked if there is any degree of shock for him about all of this.
"There's admittedly a little of that. I never, my intentions were certainly not to leave Oklahoma, they weren't, and the more I learned about this the more my excitement built and it just felt like the right place at the right time for the next chapter of my life and my family's life. I knew it was right," he said. "So is there a little bit of shock even now? Yeah, there is, but I think the excitement outweighs that right now."
Sosna indicated USC had "multiple plans" if it couldn't compel Riley and that he and Bohn had vetted "dozens" of candidates through the search process.
Bohn said USC, though the outside groups it employed for help along the way, had compiled "400 pages of insightful data analysis" during the search, and that he and Sosna "traveled around the country meeting with many of the key influencers in the college football coaching world, to whom we presented a 50-slide presentation on our city, university, community, brand, history and tradition and the support and commitment we have for our football program."
With regard to Riley, one would naturally assume there had to be some back-channeling between USC and his agent to at least gauge interest if USC was going to wait to move on other candidates before this call Sunday. But Riley claimed he had not given it any thought before the end of the weekend.
"No, I was locked in on our team. I told people around me that if there were any other opportunities, that I was not going to spend one ounce of energy on them unless we got knocked out of the Big 12 race or got knocked out of the playoff race. So until the very last snap Saturday night, it had really no bearing on anything I did and then we got into it after that," he said.
So if this all truly materialized from the phone conversation Sunday to USC formally announcing the hire Sunday afternoon, how did he possibly make such a life-changing decision in a day or less?
"I call plays in a lot less than a day and those are life-changing decisions too, so this one felt like I had an eternity," he joked.
Riley is sharp and witty and most certainly won over the room Monday, though it was going to be an easy sell regardless given the unbridled excitement throughout the fan base and anyone associated with the program, that USC -- which has clinched its second losing season in the last four years as fans had clamored throughout that period for the program to move on from embattled former head coach Clay Helton -- had made the biggest power move in college football.
For his part, Sosna would not get into any specifics on when or how that Sunday call to Riley happened, whether it was set up in advance or a cold call, etc.
"It was to be honest a little bit of a blur. We 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 with some of our university leadership and kind of talk through what this might be," Riley said. "It came together quickly, but to be honest, in this day and age in college football it kind of has to if it's going to. It's just the way of the world right now, but I would say just the impact of meeting with our university leadership was pretty immediate for me.
"I'm obviously aware of this program, aware of what it's done, what it can be -- I think that's pretty known in the college football world. That was part of it, but you can't just rely on the logo. Just because it's USC, that's a great start but all it is is a start. You better have the right people behind it, you better have commitment at all levels, you better have alignment at all levels or you're not going to be successful. When I met with our university leadership I could see there was total alignment, and more than just alignment there was excitement. You could tell they were ready to go. Their energy just spoke to me so it came together pretty quickly, had some conversations, some tough conversations back and forth in making a decision. It was tough to leave the place I left -- it was -- but at the same time I knew this was the right thing and just knew this was where me and my family wanted to be."
Riley called it the toughest decision of his life.
He talked more about how "completely in sync" USC's leadership team was in making their presentation. Anyone who has spent 10 minutes around Sosna knows that he is as prepared, polished and detail-oriented as they come, so it's no surprise that USC had its pitch perfected by the time that call happened.
Sosna said Monday he had only slept three hours since waking up Saturday morning.
He noted that USC was content to hire Riley without meeting him in person because it felt confidentiality -- and perhaps the stealth factor -- was essential in pulling this off, and risking a leak in information by bringing him to Los Angeles or someone tracking flights out of Oklahoma was too much risk.
"Confidentiality was really the single most important factor because if at any point it got out it probably ruins it," he said.
Or if Oklahoma had won that football game Saturday night and advanced to the Big 12 championship game ...
"I will say watching that game was one of the more excruciating experiences of my life. Obviously, we didn't know which way this would go but certainly knew there were possibilities, so I think when you just think about it intellectually, if Oklahoma wins that game we may be in a different outcome and that's sports, that's life, things just happen on the margins and it's about timing and luck can be such an incredible factor," Sosna said. "I think what we did is position ourselves so that when the window of opportunity was created we were ready to take advantage of it."
But for Riley, a guy from the town of Muleshoe in west Texas, who had spent the bulk of his career at Texas Tech and Oklahoma, to agree to move to Los Angeles without coming out for a formal interview/visit to campus?
"I've got two young girls and for them to be able to experience different things in this life is very, very important for me and my wife," Riley said. "We've always kind of been people, we're not scared to take a risk. I don't see this as a risk, but we're not scared to take a jump and this was the right time. Everything about it made sense and to me everything about it is, I love the situation we're in right now. I do. I love it."
Surely, it took a significant financial investment from USC to make this happen -- and make it happen so quickly. Riley was making over $7 million a year at Oklahoma, which offers a bit cheaper cost of living than Los Angeles. The L.A. Times also reported that USC had to pay a $4.5 million buyout to Oklahoma.
Neither Bohn nor Sosna would offer any details into the contract -- not even the length.
There have been some astronomical contract details put out on Twitter by someone connected to the Oklahoma program, but there's no way to know how close to reality those claims are so it's best left on Twitter for now.
"We understand the competitive nature of what's going on in the marketplace. We recognize the importance of being competitive, but we have a firm understanding of what the marketplace is," Bohn said, before being asked how many years the deal is for. "We aren't announcing details on the contract today."
Sosna was asked how much work had to be done the last two years, since he and Bohn arrived from Cincinnati, to position USC financially to make this investment -- whatever it entails.
"I think the business case is always an important factor. Obviously our media rights deal is up in two years and College Football Playoff expansion seems likely and we understand the economics of that. We also can model against how we've performed in our key revenue areas historically relative to where we are now with fundraising and ticket sales," he said. "I think an early part of the process was just being able to understand and establish the financial parameters and what made sense and what we were capable of doing and also understanding the market place and where it was going."
Asked how aggressive financially USC was in making this deal, he said only: "I think we were consistent with the marketplace."
Ultimately, the point being, USC knew it needed to maximize this hire and despite what fans have lamented for years or forecasted as limitations to this search, there seemed to be no hesitation to do what it took to bring about this outcome.
This stunning, incredible outcome.
"The fact we landed our top candidate and one of the best coaches in all of football was not an accident, but instead the product of a thoughtful, thorough, strategic and comprehensive search process that involved an incredible team," Bohn said. "For two years we've asked you to have trust and patience and belief in our vision and our process, and today that vision and that process brings us to Lincoln Riley. ...
"We felt immense pressure to deliver a coach who could unite us all in our pursuit of national championships and now it's on us to rally together. ... We got our guy."
Said Sosna: "It's not lost on us that so many people, their identity is rooted in USC football and that this changes lives for people, it really does. It means so much to so many people, so trying to process that and appreciate that while also trying to do the job and get it done it's surreal. Honestly, it really is. I'm looking at 'Welcome to the Trojan Family, Lincoln Riley' [on the Coliseum video boards] and I honestly, it's still hard to believe."
As Riley talked about his plans, his vision, his expectations, the potential that lured him to USC, he referenced back to the Coliseum he stood atop of Monday and said everything fans wanted to hear.
It was a day for big goals and lofty expectations and all of that good stuff, because if USC could pry Lincoln Riley away from Oklahoma, well, anything suddenly seemed possible again.
"This place is going to be full. This is going to be the mecca of college football. And I'm not big on false promises, hollow promises," Riley said. "I'm not going to stand up here and talk about all the different things I think we can do. We see the potential. We know we've got to go to work. It's going to take every single one of us, but if we all do what we can, can you imagine the scene down here? ... Now it's time to go to work."