5 College Football head coaches with something to prove in 2022

Lincoln Riley needs to prove he’s worth it

One of the biggest splash hires of the entire college football offseason was Lincoln Riley leaving his job at Oklahoma and taking over at USC.

It was a genius move by the Trojans. Riley was consistently out-recruiting USC and getting some of the top talent from Southern California to go to Oklahoma of all places.

Imagine what would happen if USC had a coach that could keep that talent home, someone surely thought, and boom — Riley is the guy.

And so far, the plan has worked to perfection. Recruiting has been off the charts and Riley kept a number of key prospects from the state of California at USC. He also landed five-star quarterback transfer Caleb Williams, as well as a number of other high-profile additions.

With a new head coach and a roster full of transfer portal additions to supplement USC’s already talent-filled roster, there is no reason why the Trojans can’t win the Pac-12 next season.

So far USC football has to be giddy with the result of his hire and if Riley can turn things around on the field, not only will be he be worth what they paid, it’s going to feel like a bargain.