CHICAGO (AP) — The expectations are not new for Lincoln Riley or Southern Cal. He faced them as a first-time head coach at Oklahoma before arriving at USC, and the Trojans have faced them nearly every year for generations.
Still, in Riley's five years at USC, those expectations have perhaps never been higher than they are this fall. With more than a dozen contributors returning, including star quarterback Jayden Maiava, the country's top-ranked freshman class and a handful of impact transfers, a lot of the pieces that were missing during the first few years of Riley's tenure have now fallen into place, on paper at least.
"It's what it's supposed to feel like here," Riley said Tuesday at Big Ten football media days. "I've said this multiple times: I mean, the only two places that I've been a head coach at were blue-blood schools that have the highest of expectations. Honestly, I've really not known anything different. We're a product of our own experiences. That's been mine.
"Every year, I expect to win. I expect us to win. I expect us to compete for and win championships. That doesn't change. I certainly will give you what has changed: We're more equipped than at any point in the previous few years. That's not a hope or wish, those are facts. There's a lot of facts to back that up."
Riley cited institutional alignment including NIL support and a new $200 million practice facility, the addition of new defensive coordinator and longtime TCU head coach Gary Patterson and the overall depth of talent on the roster among his reasons for optimism that he can get USC back to where it is used to being.
#i 've #head #we 're
Still, in Riley's five years at USC, those expectations have perhaps never been higher than they are this fall. With more than a dozen contributors returning, including star quarterback Jayden Maiava, the country's top-ranked freshman class and a handful of impact transfers, a lot of the pieces that were missing during the first few years of Riley's tenure have now fallen into place, on paper at least.
"It's what it's supposed to feel like here," Riley said Tuesday at Big Ten football media days. "I've said this multiple times: I mean, the only two places that I've been a head coach at were blue-blood schools that have the highest of expectations. Honestly, I've really not known anything different. We're a product of our own experiences. That's been mine.
"Every year, I expect to win. I expect us to win. I expect us to compete for and win championships. That doesn't change. I certainly will give you what has changed: We're more equipped than at any point in the previous few years. That's not a hope or wish, those are facts. There's a lot of facts to back that up."
Riley cited institutional alignment including NIL support and a new $200 million practice facility, the addition of new defensive coordinator and longtime TCU head coach Gary Patterson and the overall depth of talent on the roster among his reasons for optimism that he can get USC back to where it is used to being.
#i 've #head #we 're
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