Top 5 college football head coaching villains heading into 2022

1. Lincoln Riley, USC

I’ve shuffled around this list quite a bit before settling on Lincoln Riley as my biggest head coaching villain heading into the 2022 season.

Did I ever think that I would type that sentence out? Absolutely not, but he has gone rogue over the past six, or so, months and has turned just about every fan in Norman that loved and adored him into enemies seemingly overnight.

How was he able to do this? Well, after leading the Sooners to their fourth 10-plus win season in his five seasons in Norman, he spoke openly about not having interest in the vacant LSU coaching job for which he was rumored to be a candidate. He even said “I’m not going to be the next head coach (at LSU)” which made Oklahoma fans breathe a massive sigh of relief. Hours later, he was named the next head coach at USC.

Technically he wasn’t lying, but man, what a dirty way to do a program that you led to success for five years.

Not only do Pac-12 and Oklahoma fans loathe him, but Pitt fans are aboard the hate train as well. Pat Narduzzi accused Riley of tampering after Jordan Addison entered the portal and almost immediately was considered a lock to USC. Addison played his recruitment out a little more, but it didn’t make Riley look any better when he committed weeks later instead of hours.

If you’re looking for a good example of how to quickly burn bridges in the coaching world, Riley is your guy.