Followed Clay Helton. Lincoln Riley inherited a Power Program I USC and won with it.
[A] bunch of guys got opportunities, and we had several that did not play the way that we anticipated
I don’t buy into the false narrative
This is USC, right? People are going to pay attention
During my years here, attendance has gone up every single year — as has our play in the Coliseum, including running the table last year in front of a lot of epic atmospheres
They came out here, and they let it rip
He just does what he does in practice. I mean, I don’t think anybody here is very surprised
I think [in] first games you’re always excited to see how we block, how we tackle, how we run out of tackles, how we destroy blocks, play live, being able to disrupt the ball and take care of the ball
We are more equipped than at any point in the previous few years
Of all the guys that I’ve been fortunate enough to coach, I don’t know that I’ve had any that have improved from day one to this point as much as Jayden has
His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.
Reached Power Program in his 1st career season — faster than 57% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #1 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).
Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.
Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.
How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.
11–5 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Kyle Whittingham.
A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.
Model fit as of 2026-09-04.
Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim
This wasn’t as close as the score showed but Louisiana has heart and some dogs. Their qb also played his heart out and took some nasty hits. USC look great, but as usual the defense looks spotty. If Riley doesn’t fix the issues in the next couple weeks it’s probably his last or second to last year here.
Based on 1 comment from 1 poster across 1 thread · Sep 13, 2026 · via CFB
13th-best USC tenure of 17 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Followed Clay Helton (2013–2021).
| Season | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 11–3 | 8–5 | 7–6 | 9–4 | 0–0 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | L bowl | — | |
| Recruiting rank | #70 | #8 | #17 | #14 | #1 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||
| Pass rate | 52.1 | 56.0 | 59.8 | 49.8 | 45.6 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||
| OC | Josh Henson | Josh Henson | Josh Henson | Luke Huard | Luke Huard | |
| DC | Alex Grinch | Alex Grinch / Brian Odom / Shaun Nua | D'Anton Lynn / Eric Henderson | D'Anton Lynn / Eric Henderson | Gary Patterson | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||
| Offense | 99 | 97 | 71 | 91 | 85 | |
| Defense | 0 | 10 | 40 | 33 | 53 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 48.9 | 51.6 | 52.5 | 43.9 | 40.5 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 48.3 | 44.1 | 53.0 | 42.3 | 41.0 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 39.5 | 36.7 | 31.1 | 45.5 | — | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
20 NFL Draft picks: Drake London (2022), Drake Jackson (2022), Keaontay Ingram (2022), Jordan Addison (2023), Tuli Tuipulotu (2023), Mekhi Blackmon (2023), Andrew Vorhees (2023), Caleb Williams (2024) + 12 more
7 player-seasons honored (All-America / national award): Caleb Williams (2022), Tuli Tuipulotu (2022), Andrew Vorhees (2022), Zachariah Branch (2023), Eddie Czaplicki (2024), Bishop Fitzgerald (2025), Makai Lemon (2025)
9th-best Oklahoma tenure of 15 by the numbers.
Outperforms his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.
Succeeded by Brent Venables (2022–2026).
| Season | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record & result | ||||||
| Record | 12–2 | 12–2 | 12–2 | 9–2 | 1–0 | |
| Postseason | L bowl | L bowl | L bowl | W bowl | W bowl | |
| Recruiting rank | #8 | #9 | #6 | #11 | #11 | |
| Style — pass rate | ||||||
| Pass rate | 44.2 | 43.2 | 40.3 | 46.4 | 47.4 | |
| Coordinators | ||||||
| OC | Bill Bedenbaugh / Cale Gundy | Bill Bedenbaugh / Cale Gundy | Bill Bedenbaugh / Cale Gundy | Bill Bedenbaugh / Cale Gundy | Bill Bedenbaugh / Cale Gundy | |
| DC | Mike Stoops | Mike Stoops | Alex Grinch | Alex Grinch | Alex Grinch | |
| Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile | ||||||
| Offense | 100 | 100 | 97 | 88 | 89 | |
| Defense | 49 | 4 | 44 | 70 | 53 | |
| Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only) | ||||||
| 1st-down pass% | 41.5 | 37.4 | 34.9 | 37.5 | 42.6 | |
| Red-zone pass% | 43.2 | 35.7 | 37.4 | 40.7 | 44.1 | |
| 4th-down go%opp. territory | 40.5 | 43.8 | 28.6 | 19.4 | 29.7 | |
A typical amount of portal roster-building.
Brings in smaller-than-position-typical players than most.
Recruits older, more experienced transfers than most.
32 NFL Draft picks: Joe Mixon (2017), Dede Westbrook (2017), Samaje Perine (2017), Jordan Evans (2017), Baker Mayfield (2018), Orlando Brown (2018), Mark Andrews (2018), Obo Okoronkwo (2018) + 24 more
Offensive coordinator across 2 programs, 2 stints, before and after wearing the head-coach hat — every season measured on the same axis, whether he personally ran the unit or someone else did.