Raving about Riley
Lincoln Riley is too good to be true in the eyes of OU fans.
Lincoln Riley has been the Oklahoma football coach for three weeks. I’m still waiting to hear from an irate Sooner fan.
Three weeks, and support for the Riley ascension still seems to be 100 percent. Oh, there was one guy I know who expressed reservations about the hire. He stood out like a stationary store in Silicon Valley.
Rampant optimism and widespread acceptance have followed Riley’s hiring. Which is strange. Three weeks usually is long enough for skeptics to find warts.
You can’t get 100-percent support for smooth roads. Can’t get 100-percent approval for gravy on mashed potatoes. Can’t get 100 percent of Thunder fans to believe that Russell Westbrook is good for the NBA in OKC.
But upon Bob Stoops’ retirement, the instant elevation of Riley from offensive coordinator to head coach is without apparent dissent. A friend of mine put it this way: Too Good To Be True. Riley is too good to be true. It’s almost like OU fans are pinching themselves. Almost waiting for a skeleton to roll out of Riley’s closet. He just seems too perfect of a match.
What is it about Riley that engenders such elation? Well, there’s a bias for change. Stoops gave OU 18 years of mostly excellent football, but fans can go through a midlife crisis. They start to get tired of a coach, no matter how successful, unless he’s winning at Nick Saban levels. The artificial turf always looks greener on the other side of the fence.
Coaching changes bring enthusiasm. Heck, that’s why some schools change coaches in the first place. Just trying to bring a little energy to the situation. And we’ve seen that on the recruiting trail these 20 days. Lots of new commitments to the Sooners.
Is that because OU has upgraded at head coach? No. There’s just excitement in the air.
So a new coach almost always is popular. Honeymoons are bliss. But this popular?
This fashionable? This celebrated? Why is Riley Too Good To Be True?
Well, lots of reasons. Some documented in the transition, some not.
The Sooners are riding high and Riley is a big part of that. In the same way that Bud Wilkinson obviously played a part in the 1946 turnaround and Barry Switzer was paramount in the wishbone revival of 1971, Riley is no small part of the Oklahoma uptick.
From 2011 through 2014, OU went without an outright Big 12 title and had one good quarterback season (Landry Jones, 2012). Riley arrived and the Sooners produced two straight Big 12 championships, with Baker Mayfield posting two Heismancaliber quarterback seasons.
And Riley coming from an offensive lineage was bound to be popular. Fans love offense. Always have. Always will.
But Too Good To Be True goes beyond onfield production. Riley’s West Texas charm is endearing. Stoops was a whirlwind of fresh air back in December 1998. Confident, assured, sharp. He had that Youngstown, Ohio, edge, and if there’s anything Oklahoma football needed 18-½ years ago, it was an edge.
Stoops never lost that Youngstown attitude, and it kept working. But almost two decades later, it just wasn’t as appealing to the masses. Boredom and complacency had set in on the relationship. Most every Sooner realized what a jewel Stoops was, but excitement about him had waned.
Enter Riley, with a downhome demeanor from downhome Muleshoe. West Texas is about as close culturally to western Oklahoma as you can get, and western Oklahoma is about the best people place on Earth. Riley just seems like an Oklahoma natural.
Riley is young, 33, and void of head coaching experience. That’s a negative most places. Not here. When hired as head coach, Bud Wilkinson was 31, Chuck Fairbanks 33, Switzer 35 and Stoops 38. Powers like Alabama and Ohio State have great success hiring proven head coaches. OU built up its kingdom hiring up-and-comers. Lack of experience doesn’t scare Sooner fans. It fascinates them.
The honeymoon will end.
Sooner for some, later for others. Eventually, Riley will lose to Texas or punt to the next Tyreek Hill or lose a bowl game. But until then, OU’s new coach is Too Good To Be True.