Fact or Fiction: USC landed the best hire possible
In today’s Fact or Fiction national columnist Mike Farrell looks at three big recent topics in college football and decides whether each statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.
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1. LSU missed out on the two best fits for its program.
Farrell's Take: FACT. I’m talking about Billy Napier and Lincoln Riley. While I worry about each at their new jobs for different reasons, they would have been a home run at LSU. Napier has ties to Louisiana that would have helped him immediately at LSU and he would have had instant local support. And Riley’s offensive reputation would have brought an amazing array of talent to Baton Rouge similar to what we saw on the field for the Tigers in 2019.
So now what for LSU with Mel Tucker and Dave Aranda off the list as well? This will get interesting.
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2. USC landed the best hire possible.
Farrell's Take: FACT. Short of Urban Meyer this is an absolute home run for the USC administration. Lincoln Riley is a young coach with Power Five and playoff experience who will be very attractive to players on the West Coast.
Recruiting will rise, excitement around the program will improve and the Trojans lured an elite coach away from a perennial power as well as other big-time suitors. There are challenges for Riley ahead but for USC, it can’t do any better.
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3. Next year's Power Five coaching carousel will be more active.
Farrell's Take: FACT. It’s been crazy already this year and there could be more moves but just think ahead to next season. The way things are going in coaching you could have second-year coaches getting the axe in addition to Manny Diaz, Mike Norvell, Tom Allen, Geoff Collins, Karl Dorrell, Dino Babers, Scott Satterfield, Scott Frost and many others. I have a feeling we are in for double-digit Power Five coaching changes yearly from now on.