Day to OU?
November 29th, 2021 at 12:30 AM ^
Stop trying to ship him out right at the glorious start of our new ten year war.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Days next move is to the NFL, not laterally. And I predict it'll happen after next year's Game in the Horseshoe.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:43 AM ^
Not even sure if it's lateral
November 29th, 2021 at 1:40 AM ^
It's not -- Oklahoma isn't even a Top 5 job in their new conference
November 29th, 2021 at 5:24 AM ^
Ya gotta wonder if that's part of the reason Riley left Oklahoma. I really don't get Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC. You can already win national titles and recruit at an elite level and clearly be the 2 best programs in your conference. Now he can go to USC where recruiting is as good if not better and be at what is clearly the top job in the conference.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:19 AM ^
OU admins gave up football primacy for money, period.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:49 AM ^
$$$ Money is the reason, Plain and simple.
November 29th, 2021 at 7:59 AM ^
Exactly - OU beat up on a weak conference for years and was exposed every single year.
November 29th, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
I think he'll take the Bears job to reunite with his old QB.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:37 AM ^
Makes about as much sense as thinking Kingsbury will leave a #1 seed Super Bowl hopeful to go to Oklahoma.
Lincoln made the right move imo
November 29th, 2021 at 12:46 AM ^
Well after seeing what Tucker and Franklin got, Kingsbury could get roughly $1.2 billion from a college team.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:51 AM ^
....but that would be over 10 years.
November 29th, 2021 at 1:48 AM ^
I saw that in a tweet and had the same thought as you: Bananas. To the surprise of many, including me, Kingsbury seems to be doing great in the NFL, perhaps even better suited for it than college.
Even the lingering doubts of the early season run of success, that it was just Kyler Murray doing everything, have receded: Kingsbury is winning games with Colt McCoy at QB.
The only scenario in which it makes sense for this to be publicized is if Kliff's own agent is trying to get him a contract bump from a nervous Cardinals front office.
November 29th, 2021 at 2:35 AM ^
Am I the only one who thinks this move was a head-scratcher for Riley?
USC is a train wreck. Clay Helton ran their recruiting straight into the ground, so Riley is taking over a bare-cupboard rebuilding project. He's from Texas and has spent almost the entirety of his coaching career in Texas and Oklahoma, so it's an odd fit culturally. The money is a wash at best; Oklahoma would have matched whatever USC is paying him, and his take-home would have been larger and stretched much further in Norman, OK than in Los Angeles. And in Oklahoma, the head football coach at OU is king of the entire state. At USC, the head football coach may not even be king of his own campus.
The West Coast is a poor environment for college football. With the possible exception of Oregon (which is the only Pac-12 school that can match the enthusiasm and fan support of top programs in the SEC and B1G), Pac-12 teams play in front of stadiums filled to 75% capacity on a good day. In Los Angeles, USC Football is just one of many amenities. In Oklahoma and the SEC, the entire state lives and breathes college football.
I really don't get what Riley sees in that job.
November 29th, 2021 at 3:04 AM ^
USCs potential is higher than OU. They can become king again in the Pac12 and all they really have to do is put a fence around Southern California croots. It's much easier to succeed there than trying to make OU competitive in the future SEC.
Who cares if the population is less interested in college football? Win enough and I'm sure the Coliseum will be packed again.
This kinda sucks for M. We have been getting a couple guys here and there from California for a while now. Now maybe Riley shuts that down.
November 29th, 2021 at 4:00 AM ^
I'm of the opinion that USC is the sleeping giant of college football, and Riley is going to have a serious opportunity to wake them up.
Los Angeles is going to be a draw period to recruits, particularly if there is a reason to go there. The place just recruits itself. Before the wheels fell off Helton, they were pulling in top 10 classes with ease and that was in the midst of the mediocre Lane Kiffin/Sark years. It's also worth noting that the "down" recruiting years were sanctioned as part of the punishment for the 2005 vacated season, and they were still pulling in high level talent, just with fewer scholarships. Carroll was a while back, but when he was in town, this team was basically a lock for the Pac-10 championship, and was pretty much always in the championship picture. To put it kindly, since he left, the coaching talent there has been brutal. Maybe you cut Kiffin some slack since he bore the brunt of those sanctions and has improved since his USC tenure, but Sarkisian was and is a disaster (see Texas this year), and Helton is overwhelmingly mediocre, with zero recruiting game once his seat became even mildly warm.
The Pac-12 has to be one of the easiest conferences in the country. Most teams are located in weaker football states (Washington, Arizona, Oregon, Utah) and they're football-wise USC is the marque school in their talent rich state. It's basically begging to be won by USC. Because of the lowered expectations from the down years he's probably gonna get more rope than most coaches, barring a Texas Sarkisian level failure (which I don't see happening to Riley). USC has become quietly one of the best positioned jobs in the country. Riley is a big enough name that recruits will flock to him regardless of everything else you mentioned, and it's happening as we speak. Meanwhile other fallen blue bloods, Nebraska, Tennessee, Miami (YTM) and soon to be Texas are all trapped/going to be trapped in tougher conferences (for Miami, see their performance before/after the switch from Big East to ACC) and are in way worse position moving forward.
Meanwhile Oklahoma is in the midst of transferring from being the big fish in a small Big 12 pond into the big lake of the SEC. If Oklahoma is in the SEC, I don't think they're a playoff regular, since while the bottom of the conference is weak, the top/middle is a hornets nest. Oklahoma isn't a natural talent base, so their strong recruiting classes stem from their track record of winning conference titles and being in the playoffs, which will be much harder in the SEC. Riley is one of the hottest coaching commodities right now, so I totally get trying to be the "savior of USC" with a clear path to the conference title/playoffs every year, versus putting your reputation up against Saban/Smart/Fisher/whoever LSU dumptrucks money in a yearly uphill battle to just get into the playoff conversation.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:43 AM ^
He is also a man who wears a visor. Why has no one mentioned this yet.
November 29th, 2021 at 4:58 AM ^
A few things here:
1. Riley actually recruits well from Southern Cal, many of his top recruits in the upcoming OU class (several of whom have already decommitted) were from there including 5-star QB Malachi Nelson. Want to take a wild guess where he'll consider now?
2. Maybe he wants to move precisely because he's spent most of his life in Texas/Oklahoma? Wants to live in another part of the country, a big city, etc.? Who knows.
3. Riley is reportedly getting $12 million a year from USC. Sure, OU may have matched, but what are you gonna do with $12 mil a year in Norman? Seems like overkill. In LA, on the other hand, you have endless opportunities to spend this money on nice things. No offense to Oklahoma, but LA/Southern Cal has a lot more going for it, especially if money is not really a concern.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:30 AM ^
I just listened to The Audible podcast and Bruce Feldman echoed a lot of this. He recruits CA a lot already and apparently likes SoCal.
Oklahoma is absolutely a blueblood but USC is even better IMO. One of the best recruiting grounds in the country with way less competition than in Texas or the South. And there's no other P5 conference where your program is so clearly the top one. People get too caught up in the current moment. Who cares that USC sucks now? Plus after years of expectations beaten down this is when it's a good time to take over a rebuilding job. They're not gonna fire him if he doesn't get in the playoffs in year 2. They were patient with Helton. If I were a coach that would certainly appeal to me.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:16 AM ^
Ed Orgeron to Lincoln Riley: Take a look at my video montage of USC cheerleaders. Thar’s gold in them there hills.
November 29th, 2021 at 6:30 AM ^
I think it's two things:
1) OU is taking a big gamble by going to the SEC. They've ruled the roost in the Big 12 and now are going to find themselves facing multiple conference opponents of comparable talent instead of just Texas. Riley might not want to deal with that.
2) USC has crazy upside with the right coach. We saw this with Pete Carroll. And as noted, other than Oregon there's not that much competition there at the moment.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:02 AM ^
There are reports stating that Riley was against moving to the SEC, yet the school did it anyways. Im sure at USC he will run the show....a big FU to Oklahoma on his way out.
Also, He will take all of his recruits with him.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
Why would Day go to the meat grinder of the SEC?
November 29th, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
OU looks like a death trap right now. They're gonna win 8 games a season of they're lucky with a fan base that's disappointed with 10. No way Day leaves Ohio for that job.
November 29th, 2021 at 1:52 AM ^
It's Oklahoma. They've been elite for 20 years now. I'm not ready to say that the run is over just yet...
But it sure does look like a full implosion being captured in real time. The shoot-down refutation of the LSU rumors, followed the next day by a departure to the Pac-12? It's a Hogan-to-NWO caliber heel turn, with some of the best prospects evaporating instantly.
If there were a scenario in which an elite team instantly became non-elite, this is the scenario.
November 29th, 2021 at 1:54 AM ^
I though thst was Carr to RichRod?!
November 29th, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
I don't see why he would do that now that OU is going to the SEC. When they were in the Big 12 they had an easy path to the playoffs. Now they have to get through Alabama and LSU just to make the playoffs.
The only situations that would have been improvements over OSU were USC and the NFL. USC is no longer an option and Urban Meyer's performance has probably hurt his chances to make it to the NFL.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:38 AM ^
Interesting. Meaningful risk to OK in hiring him; Harbaugh might be right about the "third base" comment, and I don't think OU is as attractive to recruits as OSU. Does that change when they go to SEC? Maybe? It's damn sure gonna be a tougher place to put up 10 wins annually than the B12 was. And, if Day gets back on the beating UM bus, he'll be making near $10MM a year soon. He's set to make $7.6 next year, ex- of incentives. Interesting idea, but I really don't see it for either side. That said, I feel like this is going to be a panic-buying season for head coaches, and in a world in which Tucker just signed for almost $100MM, I don't rule anything out.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:45 AM ^
Ohio fans would take this now. Just a few days ago they were telling themselves Day is actually better than Urban because he embarrasses his assistants in public rather than coddle them. Or something.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:50 AM ^
The dude is 30-1 in the B1G - yet still does not have a winning record against (M)ichigan. That is just embarrassing.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:48 AM ^
would make zero sense to me.
I didn't think Riley would leave for LSU, because it is another SEC meatgrinder of a job.
USC surprised me a little, but USC could really dominate the PAC12 and would be battling maybe Oregon? Riley recruits a ton from California already, so he has a lot of recruiting in roads already established there.
OSU is a premier program and Day's recruiting has a strong base in Ohio, though he has been very successful in Texas as well.
It would shock me, but then again, Mel Tucker is getting paid as the second best coach in football, so if OK is able to outbid OSU, anything is possible i suppose
November 29th, 2021 at 12:51 AM ^
a big raise? come on. osu can match anything oklahoma offers. day might turn one of these offers into a raise at his current school, ala james franklin, but i don't see him leaving anytime soon.
outside of two separate 1-year stints (at florida, at 49ers), his entire coaching and playing careers have been in the new england/midwest footprint.
the job is a lateral move at best and, depending on re-alignment with the two new additions, they'll have to play at least as tough a schedule as osu has in the big ten east.
and let's not make it look like he'd be likely to turn tail and run. michigan played well this weekend but ultimately has 1 win against their main rival this decade. i expect this game to motivate day, prompt the hiring of a new DC from outside the program, and for osu to continue to be elite.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:53 AM ^
OU is going to find out it's a lot harder to win in the SEC than in the Big 12, and I pity the guy who's going to go into Lincoln and deal with that new reality from a fanbase that is used to a cakewalk to the CFP. Day is a lot of things but he's not dumb and I can't imagine he'd seriously consider going to OU.
November 29th, 2021 at 1:48 AM ^
Going into Norman will be tough enough, let alone going into Lincoln to pick up the pieces after Scott Frost's Hardest Hitting 3-Win Team Ever.
November 29th, 2021 at 12:54 AM ^
Why? Why? Why would Day leave OSU for OU.
Of course OU is interested in Day. That doesnt mean he is interested back.
Stop doing this guys. Enough with these type of posts. It makes us look silly. IF something concrete ever came up about it, then sure, talk about it. Until then.
Enjoy the win. Get excited for Indy.
November 29th, 2021 at 1:22 AM ^
Day will be busy trying to find his way to home plate
November 29th, 2021 at 1:34 AM ^
It's hard to get from third plate to home when no one is at the plate
November 29th, 2021 at 1:33 AM ^
NO. It sounds like Riley left because OU wasn't willing to pony up the cash for the off field/analyst staff to stay competitive in the SEC. Why would anyone leave OSU to go to a program that doesn't want to spend the money necessary? ?
November 29th, 2021 at 2:00 AM ^
I half expected there to be no link to anything. And I was right.
Interested? Really? He has proven nothing yet. They can find someone with a track record already. And with how the fans were calling for Riley to be fired, they better get someone who will have immediate impact.
And I believe zero of the NFL talk. Why would an NFL team want him? There's no proven NFL assistants? I mean, what has he done? He looked literally a little lost near the end of the 1st half. And what the heck was up with 3 running plays by him to open the 2nd half? I just kept saying, "3 running plays in a row? Thank you! Thank you!" I could not believe it.
November 29th, 2021 at 2:02 AM ^
oy. silly me, i thought that beating ohio state might reduce the number of posts that were sheer wankery. boy, was i wrong.
November 29th, 2021 at 2:30 AM ^
If Day leaves OSU for another job, it would be back to the NFL.
November 29th, 2021 at 3:26 AM ^
Bob Stoops coming back.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:53 AM ^
Glad to see this. Stoops is a good guy.
November 29th, 2021 at 3:28 AM ^
What I find amusing is colleges keep trying to hire these guys with NFL passing game experience and the NFL keeps trying to hire college Air Raid gurus.
November 29th, 2021 at 3:40 AM ^
It may be fun to speculate, but it ain’t happening. Move along everyone. He has said time and time again that he loves it in Columbus and wants to give his kids stability and not move around. OU is a step down and that is a fact. No way Jose.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:27 AM ^
That’s actually just your opinion.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:01 AM ^
Give credit where credit is due. OSU is a much better job than OU. Better fans, better location, better everything. OU is a top 10 job, whereas, OSU is a top 5
November 29th, 2021 at 8:41 AM ^
I am 100% positive it isn’t happening. I’ll delete my account if it happens. Things happened earlier in his life that makes him want to stay in Columbus for his kids’ sake and I’ll leave it at that.
November 29th, 2021 at 8:36 AM ^
Wait, move along? I never stopped to look at any of this Ryan Day being offered thus and so stuff.
I want him right there at Ohio St, so I can watch his blank, clueless looks when he gets in a tight spot against a good team.
November 29th, 2021 at 5:52 AM ^
Oh no. Keep him right where he is. We've got his number.