The NCAA sheriff handed down some law at Southern California on Wednesday, and the next three weeks just got vitally important for coach Lincoln Riley.
In the simplest terms, the NCAA gave USC a get out of jail free card to fire Riley and escape his mega contract.
The NCAA placed the school on probation for one year, and fined it $50,000 for on- and off-field coaching by non-coaching analysts on staff.
More potentially damning to Riley, whose teams have lost nine of their last 12 games: Southern California agreed with the NCAA that Riley violated “head coach responsibility” rules. This means the school could fire Riley with cause and not have to pay off tens of millions in contract commitments.
That’s right, fire Riley and not owe him a penny.
I don’t want to get into the semantics of why the “head coach responsibility” charge isn’t as damaging because the rule was given more teeth in 2023 (two years after the Trojans hired Riley). All you need to know is there’s now a off ramp for USC in this growing mess.
No more former players ripping Riley and the program on social media. No more longtime Big Ten punching bags stealing USC’s conference thunder.
No more days of a top five program in all of college football middling around and losing to the Minnesotas and Marylands of the world.
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“You see the level of penalties that were levied,” Riley said. “If it’s something serious, they’re going to suspend the head coach.”
This, everyone, is the crux of the problem with Riley at Southern California. Every problem isn’t as big as it seems. Or isn’t his fault.
Can’t stop anyone on defense? No big deal, we’ll hire a new coordinator.
Can’t win one-possession games? No big deal, we’re only a handful of plays away from being unbeaten.
Can’t win games consistently in the Big Ten? We knew this would be a tough transition.
Can’t recruit the fertile Southern California geographical footprint? The deficits when we arrived demanded recruiting the transfer portal (which also has been disastrous).
There’s always an excuse, always an out. The latest: QB Miller Moss keeps throwing the ball to the other team.
So now UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava takes over (he probably should’ve been playing earlier) to make it right in what has become an untenable situation.
Not only is the season over for the Trojans, the remaining three games are against teams that need it more.
Nebraska hasn’t played in a bowl game since 2016, and this week changed its offensive coordinator. The Huskers need one win to reach bowl eligibility.
Crosstown rival UCLA, which beat USC by 18 points last season, has won its last three games after finding its footing under first-year coach DeShaun Foster.
Rival Notre Dame can’t afford another loss if it expects to reach the College Football Playoff.
Riley is 23-13 at USC without a conference championship, and the coach he replaced (Clay Helton) was 26-10 in his first 36 games — with a Pac-12 championship and Rose Bowl win, and a Cotton Bowl appearance.
The high-water mark with Riley: 11 wins in 2021, and a loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl.
Southern California is a private school, and details of Riley’s reported $110 million deal from 2021 haven’t been publicly released. But every coaching contract has a clause in it, specifically outlining firing for cause if the program is placed on NCAA probation.
