Lincoln Riley most adamant yet about sticking with OU

HOLLYWOOD, FLA. — Sitting in a hotel conference room less than 12 hours removed from Saturday’s 45-34 Orange Bowl loss to Alabama, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley reflected on the lessons of his mentors.

“In big decisions like this, you have to take a step back and look at the whole picture with a clear mind,” Riley said specifically about the search for a defensive coordinator. “I’m not going to wait around and drag my feet. I’m going to make sure we get the very best per-

son that we can.”

Riley learned from people like Donnie Duncan and Bob Stoops not to make rash decisions and he hasn’t. It took him six games into his second season as head coach to part ways with defensive coordinator Mike Stoops.

Riley said he was going to approach this defensive coordinator search in a measured manner.

“It’s more important to just get the right guy and more important to get that thing where we need it to be,” Riley said. “I’m going to take a step back here.

“I’ve been laserfocused on this game.

Now I’m just kind of adapting and didn’t even think about really what was going to happen if we didn’t win. I just didn’t even consider that.”

That patience might be helped by two of the most prominent candidates — Alabama co-defensive coordinator Pete Golding and Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Alex Grinch — still have bowl games ahead of them.

Barring unexpected departures, the Sooners will return 10 of the 11 starters on the defensive side over the last part of the season. Only Curtis Bolton among that group is a senior.

“There’s a good, young nucleus, a good young core there that we’re going to supplement even more here coming up,” Riley said. “That’s

going to be fun to watch those guys in the next few years.”

Riley said he didn’t have a blank slate on the defensive staff after a new defensive coordinator is hired, although he’ll also give whoever he settles on as the new coach room to implement his system with some autonomy.

“We’ve got good people in that room,” Riley said. “We’ve got good coaches and good recruiters, people that are loyal to this place, people that have been great to me personally, people I trust,” Riley said. “So I don’t see this as all of a sudden we’re just gonna clean house and start from scratch here.”

Riley hearkened back to the fit that happened between he and Dennis Simmons when he brought Simmons aboard shortly after Riley was hired as offensive coordinator by Bob Stoops in early 2015.

“There were some right pieces and they fit, the people worked well together and you’ve seen four years of results there,” Riley said. “We’ve gotta get that same way on that side.”

In the locker room after the game, freshman defensive end Ronnie Perkins said he was already looking toward the future and was excited to see who Riley brought aboard.

“Getting to know him, getting to know his plans for the defense, rallying around him, getting the guys to rally around him and seeing his vision and getting to work,” Perkins said.