Why Lincoln Riley Bolted

#26
#26
The big picture to me seems pretty easy to grasp. Riley decided he wanted his next move to be by his choice, rather than by his athletic director's choice. He was on a very short leash at Oklahoma; 55-10 but still not entirely off the "hot seat," because he had consistent whiffed on winning a title for six years. Then his administration told him he was moving to a tougher conference and potentially looking at facing Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, Auburn, and Alabama EVERY YEAR. All of sudden his 12-2 seasons could become 10-4 seasons, or heaven forbid he has a down year. His odds for success would decline, and his likelihood of being fired would increase. It doesn't matter how good he thinks he is, or how good he thinks Oklahoma is. He would have been on an incredibly impatient timetable to win before boosters would be calling for his head.

So take that, and compare it to USC, who's just wanting to get out of the PAC10 doldrums, offering him 100 million, a multi-million dollar home, potentially a jet (I have no idea if that's true), and all sorts of fringe incentives. His runway to make improvements will be much longer, his standards for job security will be far less strenuous, and he'll be jumping into a conference devoid of consistent top tier competition. AND, even though I lived there for a decade and refuse to accept its ridiculous cost of living and nasty traffic, the weather out there is nice. There's tons to do. If you can afford it, and if you can afford to ignore parts of it, the rest is all kinds of accessible. And the college football atmosphere in California exists, just with the dial set to 8, not 10. They care, but not too much. Nice and laid back.

Of course he left. It makes plenty of sense. He could either make his own call, or coach until someone came for his head. He decided to go.
 
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#27
#27
GVol1966 said:
Why? Crime? Higher Taxes? Politics that turned a great state into a disaster? Do tell, I’m intrigued
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While LA in general is a cesspool, if you're a multimillionaire celebrity it has its attractions. Certainly over Norman OK. LA and cities like it are only really crappy to the people who cannot afford to float above the mess.
 
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#29
#29
I know everyone wants to chalk his decision up as Riley being afraid of the SEC. Sorry, I don’t buy it at all.

If you gave 100 rich people the choice between living in Norman, Oklahoma or Los Angeles, California; I bet 80-90 would choose LA. The rest obviously don’t know how ****** Norman, Oklahoma really is.
 
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#30
#30
CINCYVOL said:
You’re overlooking the buyout money they get paid not to coach when they fail. There is no reason the highest paid public employee in a state should be an f’n football coach
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Buyout or not, they still stand to gain more money if they are successful at their job, get raises, get hired by other schools who increase their salary, etc.
 
#32
#32
GAVol said:
And there's a couple more "he's scared" takes. Nevermind that every one of us would likely quit our job and move for $110 million lol.
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According to OU's prez, they had been trying to talk with him and his people for weeks about a huge contract extension to stay there. I don't think he was the least bit interested in even hearing their offer.
 
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#33
#33
JBVolunteer said:
I know everyone wants to chalk his decision up as Riley being afraid of the SEC. Sorry, I don’t buy it at all.

If you gave 100 rich people the choice between living in Norman, Oklahoma or Los Angeles, California; I bet 80-90 would choose LA. The rest obviously don’t know how ****** Norman, Oklahoma really is.
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Do tell.
 
#37
#37
JBVolunteer said:
I know everyone wants to chalk his decision up as Riley being afraid of the SEC. Sorry, I don’t buy it at all.

If you gave 100 rich people the choice between living in Norman, Oklahoma or Los Angeles, California; I bet 80-90 would choose LA. The rest obviously don’t know how ****** Norman, Oklahoma really is.
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Riley, rich or not, doesn't strike me as a "big city" guy. He's originally from and has spent much of his time in Lubbock. His wife is from another even smaller town in West Texas and they have two relatively young kids. That will be a big adjustment for his family, huge contract or not.

OU was about to offer him some mega extension/raise, but he got out of town without even hearing the offer. Him not wanting to enter the SEC I think was at least part of the decision-making process; once OU makes the move, he doesn't really have an easy path to CFP appearances anymore. If OU was staying in the Big 12, I guarantee you he at least hears out their offer.
 
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#38
#38
BigOrangeTrain said:
He is scared of the SEC. Plain and simple. OU could have easily matched whatever USC offered.
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But they didn't. Supposedly they didn't even match LSU's offer.

USC just made him the richest coach in the nation, and dollar for dollar, nearly doubled his deal with OU.
 
#41
#41
BigOrangeTrain said:
He is scared of the SEC. Plain and simple. OU could have easily matched whatever USC offered.
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You give way too much credit to OU. Very few programs are in the big chairs like USC and OU is not one of them. Now Texas on the other hand is a money buffet.
 
#42
#42
Sarms58 said:
Southern Cal is beautiful year round and with his salary he’s not gonna have to deal with high crime…and while taxes are high, his $10 million per year in Southern California will be enough to squeeze by…
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Doesn’t have to deal with high crime in LA? Depends on where you are for the most part. Ever been to Compton or South Central? Driving to the SoCal campus is no picnic. There is now a crime spree of home invasions going on in several ritzy sections including Beverly Hills. The wife of a famous music producer was murdered this week in one of them. They have more than their share of crime in Los Angeles. Great weather yes but you couldn’t pay me enough to live there. Crime, outrageous cost of living, horrendous traffic and a plethora of fruits and nuts. No thank you.
 
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#45
#45
GAVol said:
And there's a couple more "he's scared" takes. Nevermind that every one of us would likely quit our job and move for $110 million lol.
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It just makes me sad that no one involved with UT would ever have the vision and fortitude to conduct a coaching search anywhere close to that. I don’t think Riley will be great at SC, but you have to respect their approach.
 
#47
#47
EZE said:
It just makes me sad that no one involved with UT would ever have the vision and fortitude to conduct a coaching search anywhere close to that. I don’t think Riley will be great at SC, but you have to respect their approach.
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but if he wasn't scared, he should've at least given OU the chance to match it

And it being reported that recruits were be recruited for USC by OU coaches.
 
#50
#50
GAVol said:
And there's a couple more "he's scared" takes. Nevermind that every one of us would likely quit our job and move for $110 million lol.
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Comparing regular jobs to head coaching jobs in college football is not an apples to apples comparison. OU could have matched USCs offer. Using money js just an excuse. Riley knew he would be average in the SEC. So he went to a much easier conference where he can wreck shop easily in.

Yea Riley was scared of the SEC. There is no shame in that.
 
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