Lincoln Riley will make history when Caleb Williams is selected first overall by the Chicago Bears in the NFL Draft. However, it is rather frustrating for Oklahoma and USC fans.
The 40-year-old has never won a national title despite his historic feat.
Riley is the first college football head coach in history to produce three No. 1 picks in the NFL Draft. Williams is the third. Kyler Murray was the second. Baker Mayfield was the first.
All three of them also won Heisman Trophies!
It just goes to show that it is a good idea for high school quarterback recruits to consider a commitment to Riley if they want to one day play in the National Football League. The same cannot be said for the recruits who want to win a national championship.
Williams started seven games at Oklahoma and 26 games at USC. He went 5-2 as a freshman with the Sooners and won the Alamo Bowl, 11-3 as a sophomore with the Trojans and lost the Cotton Bowl, and 7-5 as a senior and opted out of the Holiday Bowl.
Murray started 13 games at Oklahoma in 2018. He went 11-2 and won a Big 12 Championship. The Sooners lost to Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Semifinal.
Mayfield started 39 games at Oklahoma and went 11-2 in all three years. The Sooners won the Big 12 but lost in the College Football Playoff Semifinal in 2015, won the Big 12 and the Sugar Bowl in 2016, and won the Big 12 but lost in the College Football Playoff Semifinal again in 2017.
Lincoln Riley won 67 games in six and a half seasons with Mayfield, Williams and Murray. His teams made the College Football Playoff three times. They never made it to the national championship game.