Opinion: Why Sooner Nation shouldn't lose hope just because it is losing Lincoln Riley
Lincoln Riley wasn’t lying — he isn’t going to be the next coach at LSU.
But he isn’t going to remain the coach at OU either.
A day after the Sooner coach denied he was leaving Norman for Baton Rouge, we found out Sunday afternoon Riley is heading for Los Angeles instead. USC, not LSU. Trojans, not Tigers.
Why he is leaving is the question at the top of everyone’s mind, but a close second is this: who’s next?
Riley's departure leaves a huge void in Norman only days away from National Signing Day, but there is also great opportunity for OU. This is one of the premier programs in college football, after all. A blue blood. A Rolls Royce.
Until Saturday night when it lost Bedlam by a couple shoe-top tackles, OU had won six consecutive conference titles, and in the College Football Playoff era, it has perpetually been in the mix for a spot.
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OU has top-notch facilities for football, and what it doesn’t have, it builds. Resources for salaries and bonuses for coaches and support staff are ample. Ditto for funds needed for recruiting and pretty much whatever else is needed.
I’ve never gotten a sense from anyone that OU football didn’t get whatever it wanted.
So, that means OU athletic director Joe Castiglione has a heck of a job to offer. He’ll no doubt get plenty of interested suitors, and because Castiglione is one of the best in the business, he’ll no doubt have plenty of good candidates in mind, too. His track record on hiring head football coaches is splendid, after all.
Last time Castiglione hired one from outside the program, he went for an up-and-coming coordinator, Bob Stoops.
Last time Castiglione hired one from inside, he did the same, going with Riley.
Two home-run hires.
Now, if Castiglione is going to hire a coordinator or an assistant this time, I suspect the list of possibilities will be short. Internally, he could target Alex Grinch or Cale Gundy. (Wouldn’t a Gundy v. Gundy Bedlam be amazing?) Externally, former longtime OU defensive coordinator and current Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables seems like a possibility.
But with OU’s move to the SEC likely coming sooner rather than later, I suspect Castiglione will hire someone who already has head coaching experience. You need someone who isn’t learning how to be a head coach while also learning how to compete in college football’s toughest conference.
That leads to head coaches like Luke Fickell at Cincinnati, Matt Campbell at Iowa State and Dave Aranda at Baylor. Any of them seem absolutely capable of leading a program like OU into the SEC. All are serious-minded and have built winning programs in places where that hasn’t always been easy.
If OU wants someone who’s coached more of a high-profile program, James Franklin at Penn State or Mario Cristobal at Oregon are options.
There are also the head coaches with OU ties. Shane Beamer at South Carolina. Josh Heupel at Tennessee. Mark Stoops at Kentucky.
Mark's brother, Bob, is expected to serve at OU’s interim coach, by the way. If there's a chance Joe C. wants to get part of the band back together, maybe he talks Bob out of retirement. I mean, other schools have tried to get Stoops to be their head coach. He’s clearly still capable.
That would be a heck of a story: Bob Stoops, The Sequel.
It would be an unexpected move, but frankly, after the twists and turns involving OU football over the past six months, nothing seems surprising or shocking anymore.
So, who will OU hire?
Here are my top-five candidates, in no particular order: Venables, Fickell, Campbell, Beamer, Heupel.
And in case you’re worried about OU getting the right guy for the job, remember that the last time the Sooners lost their head football coach to another job when Chuck Fairbanks left for the New England Patriots in 1973, his replacement turned out to be pretty good.
Guy by the name of Barry Switzer.
The last time OU lost a head coach to another college job was 1947 when Jim Tatum went to Maryland.
The Sooners’ next head coach then?
Bud Wilkinson.
OU could soon be hiring the next Barry or Bud or Bob. History, both recent and distant, would say such a notion isn't farfetched. Sure, the crimson-and-cream world got turned on its head with Sunday afternoon's news, but this isn't the end of that world.
Sooner Nation shouldn’t lose hope just because it is losing Lincoln Riley.
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.