Riley Expresses His Desire to Stay With USC Trojans

Lincoln Riley's tenure as the head coach for the USC Trojans has seen its fair share of highs and its fair share of lows. 

At this current moment in the 2026 season, its been on a massive downslide. 

Coming off a bye week following a much-needed road win against the Penn State Nittany Lions during the annual "White Out" game, Riley and the Trojans had all the momentum marching into Camp Randall to play the Wisconsin Badgers. 

What ensued was the worst offensive performance for a Riley-led Trojans team, as USC dropped the second game of their season by a 24-7 final and rushed for a -17 yards in the process. 

An all-around horrendously played game on all fronts has again shined the spotlight on Riley and his job security at USC. 

But as he prepped his team for the highly anticipated Halloween night matchup against the No. 2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes Saturday, Riley addressed the media to tackle the outside noise. 

"If I didn't want to be at this place, I wouldn't have come here in the first place," Riley said. "If I didn't want to be at this place, I'd had plenty of opportunities to leave; this is where I want to be.

"This is the right place for me. I'm the right person to be here." 

Before Riley expressed his willingness to continue on his journey to lead the Trojans for the foreseeable future, he relayed back to his time as the Oklahoma Sooners' head coach. 

Riley was transparent by saying that he felt that he "couldn't even get out of bed" the next morning following his first loss as the head coach for the Sooners.

There were also those ready to "run him" out of town following that first loss, which was a lesson that Riley learned quickly being in the career path of a college football head coach. 

"The highs and lows of this position — you let them get to you — you're the wrong person for the job," Riley said. 

He also described that event as his "christening" as not only a head coach, but a head coach for a blue blood school. 

Whatever the case may be, for now, Riley is here to stay and will be on the sidelines as the Trojans mark their calendars for Halloween against Ohio State.

USC is not out of the race by any means — granted, their loss to Wisconsin puts a noticeable dent in the college football playoff polls — from here on out, the Trojans have no mission other than to win out. 

But it has to start with a win, Saturday, at the Coliseum against a top five ranked school in the nation.