LOS ANGELES — When you’ve done something for 20 straight years, Lincoln Riley smiled wistfully, it’s a little strange to let go.
For the majority of his coaching career, the USC coach has been recognized across the college football landscape primarily as an offensive guru – a quarterback whisperer – just as much as his head coach’s headset. Along came Baker Mayfield, and Kyler Murray, and Jalen Hurts, and Caleb Williams at Oklahoma, and Riley built Air Raid variations at Oklahoma and USC that morphed talented men into giants of the game. Riley was the official quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma, and he was the official quarterbacks coach at USC, because this was his gift.
But times have changed. Riley is trying to build a program from the ground up at USC, entering the third year of a rebuild after a disappointing 8-5 season in 2023, recognizing sweeping change was needed in coaching and personnel. And that change has involved himself.
For the first time in his head coaching career, Lincoln Riley is no longer also his program’s official QBs coach.
“I knew, at some point, I would probably want to have a quarterback coach,” Riley said at USC’s first practice of spring football on Tuesday, turning reflective for a moment. “I didn’t feel like it was the right thing in the beginning (at USC), because I felt like the best thing in the beginning to help us win was to make sure that that piece was right – I think that probably showed a lot in that first year.”
“But I knew eventually, and especially as some of these roles have changed and more has gotten thrown on our plate, I knew eventually I want to just have more flexibility.”
In a post-Williams world at USC, the honor has fallen to Luke Huard, a former collegiate quarterback who had served as USC’s inside wide receivers coach for two years. Last season, Riley kicked around the idea of ceding quote-unquote official QB coach-duties to Huard; they ended up holding off. But in the offseason, Riley came back to it, both recognizing Huard’s experience in his system and the need to dip his toes increasingly in other pools.
“I’ll still be very, very involved with the quarterbacks – I’m certainly not leaving it by stretch – but there are times when I want to be in the O-line meeting, there’s times when I want to be in the defensive meetings,” Riley said Tuesday. “I haven’t missed a defensive install this spring. And so to be able to bounce around but still be present there was ideal.”
He was hailed as an offensive savant once, Riley a bright-eyed whiz kid at East Carolina under Ruffin McNeill and later at Oklahoma. But questions around his defenses as a head coach have built across his coaching career, reaching a fever pitch as USC slumped in 2023. And with a nearly brand-new defensive staff in place for USC’s first spring practice Tuesday, Riley’s split focus was notable.
After warm-ups on USC’s Howard Jones Field, he spent a few minutes lingering with new co-defensive coordinator Eric Henderson, observing sled drills from USC’s defensive line. He jogged back over to the offensive side of the field, leaving the linebackers to new LB coach Matt Entz and the cornerbacks to new DC D’Anton Lynn and secondary coach Doug Belk, booking it back when the horn sounded to signal the end of USC’s first practice period.
“I feel like it’s allowed me to be more present in other areas of the program, but still not leaving anything in terms of still having a role offensively,” Riley said Tuesday.
If Riley gives you the keys to something, longtime friend and wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons said Tuesday, he’s saying he trusts you. And the move is a clear show of faith in Huard – whose brothers Damon and Brock both played in the NFL – and also incumbent QB Miller Moss, who has learned Riley’s system inside and out for three years.
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“I think Coach Riley wants the latitude to be a head coach, and he definitely has that opportunity more so now,” Moss said Tuesday. “So, happy for him.”
“But not going to let him get too far,” Moss finished, smiling.
MOVING THE CHAINS
• Riley established on USC’s “Trojans Live” radio show on Monday night that Jonah Monheim, a bright spot of USC’s offensive line last year at left tackle, would be the Trojans’ center in the spring. Monheim, a junior, hasn’t played a single snap at center in his college career, but his size (6-foot-5, 300 pounds) profiles well on the interior.
• New UNLV transfer quarterback Jayden Maiava earned largely positive remarks from new teammates Tuesday. “Quiet guy, just puts his head down and works,” freshman offensive lineman Elijah Paige said.
• Paige is likely to step into Monheim’s void at left tackle, where USC is largely thin. Riley mentioned there was “certainly a possibility” that USC could add another tackle during the spring transfer portal window.