Concerns over Lincoln Riley’s coaching are ‘patently absurd,’ Joel Klatt says

The USC Trojans stunningly limped to a 7-5 finish in the 2023 regular season, a campaign they entered with expectations of winning the Pac-12 and reaching the College Football Playoff — after coming close to doing so during Caleb Williams’ Heisman Trophy-winning campaign in 2022.

The biggest reason the Trojans fell short was a defense that once again sputtered during the second half of the season. USC allowed 42 points per game over its final nine games, which included fending off a late comeback at Colorado, a triple-overtime win against Arizona and a 50-49 nail-biter against Cal, in addition to all five of the Trojans’ losses.

The stunning finish has some observers wondering whether Lincoln Riley’s hesitance to fire defensive coordinator Alex Grinch — which Riley eventually did after USC’s 52-42 loss to Washington — means that his coaching acumen is overhyped. Colin Cowherd and Joel Klatt disagree, though, and explained why on Wednesday’s edition of “The Herd.”

“I think Lincoln’s going to be fine,” Cowherd said. “He was overly loyal to a defensive coach who was a bit over his skis. I think USC will be fine. … People don’t get how bad USC was when Lincoln took over.”

Both Cowherd and Klatt pointed out that the closeness between college coaches who work together — and in many cases have families who are also friends with each other — can sometimes make it more difficult to terminate that working relationship.

Plus, as Klatt pointed out, Grinch was there during the most fraught off-field moment of Riley’s head coaching career, when Riley abruptly left Oklahoma amid a firestorm of criticism to take the USC head coach job. Grinch, who was Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator at the time, came with him.

“Alex got on the plane,” Klatt said. “Lincoln was taking major heat — you remember how toxic that was, his exit from Oklahoma — so I think he remained loyal to him from that perspective. This take that Lincoln Riley is a terrible coach, it’s patently absurd. It’s very, very dumb.”

To Klatt’s point, Oklahoma won four straight conference titles and reached three straight College Football Playoff berths when Riley took over for longtime head coach Bob Stoops in 2017. Three quarterbacks — Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Caleb Williams — have won the Heisman Trophy under his tutelage. Mayfield and Murray also went on to be selected first overall in the NFL Draft, and Williams, widely considered the best prospect among the trio, is the odds-on favorite to be picked first in the 2024 draft as well.

Should USC and Lincoln Riley have concerns about the future?

As for Grinch, both Cowherd and Klatt said it is understandable that Riley would want to remain loyal to someone who was loyal to him in the midst of the transition from Oklahoma to USC, moving his entire family to Southern California in order to keep working with Riley. Plus, Klatt said, Grinch’s defeated expression during his final game against Washington — something Klatt had never seen in all his years of knowing Grinch — convinced him he knew what was coming.

“I’ve never seen this reaction on the sideline out of him,” Klatt said. “You could tell he knew. He knew what Lincoln was going to have to do. He knew that he had been fortunate that Lincoln was, I think, just stand-up that he had kept him for that second year. You can tell me, ‘Well, who cares that he got on the plane?’ That’s a big deal. Didn’t help him stop anybody, but he got on the plane.”

USC, meanwhile, is reportedly close to hiring a new defensive coordinator to replace Grinch as they prepare for their first season in the Big Ten in 2024.