LOS ANGELES — Southern California has hired Oklahoma's Lincoln Riley to be its next coach in a stunning and rare move of one traditional college football powerhouse swiping another's highly accomplished head coach.
Riley is 55-10 in five seasons leading the Sooners, winning four Big 12 Conference titles and making three College Football Playoff appearances.
The 38-year-old Texan is widely considered one of the top minds in the college game, and USC managed to sell him on the Trojans' potential to return to their glory days as a national championship contender.
"USC has an unparalleled football tradition with tremendous resources and facilities, and the administration has made a deep commitment to winning," Riley said in a statement. "I look forward to honoring that successful tradition and building on it. The pieces are in place for us to build the program back to where it should be and the fans expect it to be."
Riley "will immediately transition to USC," according to the school's statement. Interim coach Donte Williams will lead the Trojans (4-7, 3-5 Pac-12) in their season finale at California on Saturday night.
Bob Stoops is returning as Oklahoma's interim head coach to lead the Sooners in their bowl game, the school announced. Riley took over the program in 2017 when Stoops retired, and the Sooners have dominated the Big 12 in the half-decade since.
"Leaving OU was probably the most difficult decision of my life," Riley said. "OU is one of the best college football programs in the country, and it has been forever. That's not going to change. It's not going to change in the SEC. It's not going to change with another head coach. It's stood the test of time and it's going to continue to do so. This was a personal decision solely based on my willingness to go take on a new challenge, and I felt like it was the right opportunity for me and my family to do that."
USC fired Clay Helton in September after the second game of his seventh season in charge, and the school has been searching for a game-changing head coach to revive a program that has had meager success since a dominant run through the 2000s under Pete Carroll that included two national titles.