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The Oklahoma Sooners are officially SEC members. A move three years in the making, that decision was made way back in the summer of 2021.
At the time, Lincoln Riley was still the head coach in Norman, having led the Sooners to a 10-win regular season. Not long after, he was gone.
Riley bailed for Los Angeles to become the head coach at USC. He swiftly tanked the OU roster by taking his most talented players with him – headlined by Caleb Williams.
Fans were not happy.
The news caused a bitterness in Norman that made its way up to Governor Kevin Stitt. It was the ultimate betrayal!
Many believed Riley made the move in an attempt to avoid the SEC and find an easier path to the College Football Playoff. Those accusations have only grown considering his troubling trend of trying to avoid SEC foes on the field.
Joe Castiglione, the OU athletic director, seemed to confirm the rumors on Monday. He threw a vicious haymaker in the direction of his former head football coach, insinuating that Riley never supported the move.
Joe C just went scorched earth on a former #Sooners coach about the SEC move. This via SEC Now on SEC Network. pic.twitter.com/rDfY91HEqC
— Dylan Buckingham (@DylanBuckingham) July 1, 2024
“I will tell you, without reservation, every coach that we talked to was excited,” he said on the SEC Network when asked about the league transition. “And you know what, the ones that weren’t aren’t here anymore.”
Mic dropped.
There’s no love lost between Lincoln Riley and Oklahoma given his quick and unexpected departure from Norman. Clearly, some of those feelings still exist three years after the fact.
Castiglione might finally be ready to move on as the Sooners enter a new era. As for Riley, his time in the PAC-12 is now through as USC embarks on a similar realignment journey into the Big Ten.