Lincoln Riley is the head coach under the most pressure to perform in 2025.
That’s according to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, who went on Get Up Thursday morning and took his latest shot at the USC head coach. Finebaum hasn’t been shy to criticize Riley in the past, lambasting him for failures during the 2023 season and predicting before the 2024 season began that Riley would be canned by the end of the year.
Riley was not let go after the 2024 season, but his debut in the Big Ten was anything but rosy. The Trojans went 7-6 and suffered through a losing record in league play. Since capping the 2022 regular season at 11-1, USC has gone backward. The Trojans are 15-13 in their last 28 games under Riley, and they are just 2-9 against AP-ranked opponents during that time.
During Thursday morning’s appearance on Get Up, Finebaum was asked who was under the most pressure in 2025 and he had no hesitation in naming Riley.
“Why? Because he has simply underperformed. He had a pretty decent first year, but since then, it has been very rocky,” Finebaum said. “And, quite frankly, I think he would already be gone if it wasn’t for about an $80 million buyout. Even for Southern Cal, that might be too much money.”
Riley is entering his fourth year at the helm this fall. He spent 5 years at Oklahoma prior to joining the Trojans, winning 55 of his 65 games. OU won 4 straight Big 12 titles under Riley and made 3 trips to the College Football Playoff. USC hasn’t enjoyed even a fraction of that success since his arrival.
But the Trojans are certainly paying Riley for that pedigree. While USC doesn’t publicly disclose coach contracts, USA Today’s salary database estimates Riley is paid upwards of $10 million a year to rank among the 5 highest-paid coaches in the sport. The database estimates that Riley made slightly more in 2024 than national championship-winning Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. The school’s federal tax return, obtained by USA Today in May, revealed an even larger number — $11.5 million — was paid to Riley in total compensation for the 2023 calendar year.
Whatever the actual number, Riley is compensated like one of the sport’s elite head coaches. USC hasn’t been elite under Riley since the 2022 Pac-12 Championship Game.
Count Finebaum among those who think Riley’s time to fix that is running out.
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Paul Finebaum says Lincoln Riley is the coach under the most pressure to win in 2025 Saturday Down South.
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