MAN WITH A PLAN
Sooner consolation prize: Riley’s commitment to the future
AMIAMI GARDENS, FLA. — n Alabama fan approached a couple of boys in Sooner paraphernalia Saturday night, not long after the Crimson Tide dispatched Oklahoma 45-34 in the Orange Bowl.
“Y’all should have been playing Clemson,” the amiable Bamian said.
That would have been nice. The Sooners lost to a team for the ages — the Crimson Tide is the sum of all fears, the marriage of an Alabama defense with an Oklahoma-caliber offense. Could OU have beaten Clemson, which routed Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, then taken its Bama licking in the Big Bowl?
We’ll never know. And in the bowels of Hard Rock Stadium, Lincoln Riley wasn’t thinking about such consolation prizes. Riley was talking defiance. He was talking about beating all comers. Including Nick Saban’s Tuscaloosa monster.
“We've still got a bunch of Big 12 trophies,” Riley said. “We're going to hold that
tall skinny one here in a couple years.”
Riley referred to the national championship trophy. Big talk considering Saban seems nowhere near retirement and Alabama, better than ever, nears its sixth national championship in 10 seasons.
But Riley is steadfast that the Sooners are close to breaking through. A double-overtime Rose Bowl loss to Georgia a year ago. Now an 11-point loss to Bama.
“I think we’re right on the doorstep,” Riley said. “There’s no doubt. And I think the talent level is growing, the recruiting is going great, the program I think is headed in such a great direction ... it’s agonizingly close. We’re going to do everything
we can to get that done.”
Well that’s a spoonful of sugar. Not just Riley’s confidence in the future, but such talk seems the best confirmation that the NFL can’t get its clutches in him anytime soon.
An ESPN panel of 12 analysts last week ranked Riley the hottest pro coaching prospect available. But he’s talking nothing but a Sooner future. That’s a great sign.
When the Sooners were down 28-0 in the second quarter, you wondered if this could drive Riley to the NFL, thinking the Saban chase was futile. But before midnight, Riley was carrying swords and torches.
“If anything, last night just makes me hungrier,” Riley said Sunday morning. “We’ve gotten a lot done here. You don’t sit there and say we didn’t get it done. We got a
lot done, but we know there’s a little more left to get done. I feel like we’re about to do it. It just makes me even hungrier to keep going what we’ve got going here.”
Riley even talked more openly about the NFL than ever before.
“I think just honestly, I don’t see that as a step up, not in this profession,” Riley said. “It’s not a burning desire of mine by any stretch right now. Not even close. It doesn’t even compare to my burning desire to win a national championship here.”
Well that’s as comforting as it comes. Sooner football does indeed seem in great position, despite a defense of historic failure. The only potential land mine was a Riley departure. Which he seems to have squashed.
OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said he hasn’t been worried
about losing Riley, that every conversation with his coach has been about improving the program.
“There’s no doubt in my mind,” Joe C. said. “This may be an ending to one season, but it’s a beginning to not just another season, but a run of success for the University of Oklahoma.
“We’re mad about losing. We’re not down. We’re mad. But it just motivates us even more to get better and do the kind of things that improves our program so we have another shot at this.”
Keeping Riley would be a better consolation prize than even finishing second instead of third.