Lincoln Riley reportedly the next USC head coach, Jake Dickert named permanent WSU coach
Washington might have found their guy as well.
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In a major shock to the Pac-12 hierarchy, the USC Trojans appear to have hit a home run in their coaching search. Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reports that Oklahoma Sooners coach Lincoln Riley will be the next head coach at Heritage Hall.
Bruce Feldman @BruceFeldmanCFB
Would not be surprised if USC took a big swing to try and pry Lincoln Riley away from OU now.
This is a major win for USC. Oklahoma has enjoyed almost unchecked success in the Big 12 up to this year, making it to the Playoff three straight seasons (Riley did go 0-3 to Georgia, Alabama and LSU).
You have to wonder if Oklahoma's impending move to the SEC had anything to do with Riley's calculus. Riley stated out flatly that he would not be the next LSU head coach in a press conference last night.
Up north, after a successful Apple Cup rampage, the Washington State Cougars have promoted Jake Dickert to the position permanently. After taking over on an interim basis, Dickert went 3-2, but the losses were to top-15 Oregon and BYU. A dominant win over Washington likely sealed the deal, and saved Wazzu from the coaching carousel.
That leaves the Washington Huskies with the only Pac-12 coaching vacancy at this time. Current buzz seems to indicate that the leadership at Montalke is honing in on Fresno State coach Kaelen DeBoer as their top target.
FootballScoop @FootballScoop
Sources: Kalen DeBoer emerging as strong candidate at Washington https://t.co/Mvygk9F3sc
At UW it's going to be DeBoer as HC w/JT as his consultant - same role he played under Chris Peterson for 1 year.
Good news for the conference as a whole. We need to get our house in order, but a stronger conference should only help us in a myriad of ways even if USC becomes a monster again.