USC hires Lincoln Riley as its football head coach

Lincoln Riley, the fifth-year Oklahoma coach, is the next head coach at USC.

The school announced the hiring hours after Yahoo Sports broke the news that the final details of the hiring were being worked out.

Riley was 55-10 at Oklahoma. The Sooners won the Big 12 in his first four seasons and also has three College Football Playoff appearances under his belt. The Sooners lost to Oklahoma State on Saturday night to drop to 10-2 on the year. With the loss, the Sooners will miss out on the Big 12 title game and the CFP.

Riley said on Saturday night that he wouldn’t be the next coach at LSU. He did not mention anything about USC.

At USC, Riley replaces Clay Helton, who was fired in September. Helton was in his seventh season with the Trojans before he was fired after just two games. Helton led the Trojans to a Pac-12 title in 2017, but USC has been mostly mediocre in the seasons since.

The Trojans dropped to 4-7 with a loss to BYU on Saturday night.