Lincoln Riley is becoming the college football coach every one loves to hate. USA Today dissected his coaching very thoroughly and published an analysis that is pretty damning. Vainglorious and soft are some apt adjectives that could be used.
Simply put, Riley teams play soft because they are soft. Riley got rid of Stoop's strength and conditioning coach and well, replaced him with him with a guy more focused on yoga.Schmidt served under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and worked under Riley in 2017, but Riley wanted his own guy — Bennie Wylie — for 2018. Schmidt went to Texas A&M for a few years, but when Riley left for USC, Brent Venables brought Schmidt back to OU in 2022. You’re seeing Oklahoma playing tough, physical football under Schmidt’s guidance as strength coach once again. A lot is often said about coaches needing a second year to more fully implement what they want to do. It’s true for strength and conditioning as well as for head coaches and coordinators. In Year 1 of his second OU stint, Schmidt was laying the groundwork for what he wanted to do under Venables, but the roster wasn’t there, and the habits weren’t fully established. The Sooners struggled in 2022 but — with a full offseason — were able to restore Schmidt’s approach. It’s paying off for Oklahoma. Brent Venables inherited a difficult situation and was not nearly as deft in the transfer portal in the 2022 offseason as Lincoln Riley was. OU was set up to fail in 2022, and Venables needed time for Jerry Schmidt’s strength program to take effect because he had a bunch of players who weren’t used to that regimen when he took over the Sooners. Conversely, Riley’s instant portal infusion of talent set up USC well for 2022, and he inherited offensive linemen coached well by Clay McGuire. The portal pickup of Bobby Haskins from Virginia also proved to be huge. Bennie Wylie’s strength program wasn’t all that central or transformative for these linemen. They were already seasoned and developed by other previous coaches.Other coaches training his players. That will be a recurring theme. Most of his star quarterbacks started somewhere else.
Compare and contrast Oklahoma in Year 2 of Jerry Schmidt’s strength and conditioning program versus USC in Year 2 of Bennie Wylie’s strength and conditioning program. It’s night and day. One program has advanced considerably while the other has regressed considerably... Schmidt, on the other hand, has the Sooners playing muscular and very successful football in the trenches again. This is not an accident, folks.No coach can win without a halfway decent offensive line, not even Lincoln Riley.
When Lincoln Riley came very close to reaching the College Football Playoff National Championship Game in the 2017 season (OU lost a squeaker to Georgia in overtime in a classic 2018 Rose Bowl), he had Bill Bedenbaugh as his offensive line coach. When Riley made two more playoff appearances in 2018 and 2019, Bedenbaugh was his offensive line coach. Those 2018 and 2019 teams weren’t quite as good as 2017, but notably, the offensive linemen on those teams started their OU careers with Jerry Schmidt as their strength coach. They received a foundational boost from Schmidt, so when Wylie came in as Riley’s strength coach in 2018, the negative effect was reduced. Being coached by Bedenbaugh also reduced any negative influence Wylie might have provided when Schmidt left. That’s a key point Sooner fans would be quick to mention as a reason Riley kept winning 10-11 games after Schmidt’s departure. He still had Bedenbaugh as offensive line coach.Bedenbaugh stayed at OU. Notice a difference in the offensive lines at both schools? The rest of the article is a fun read if you are inclined to read such things. Of course, Riley is the same coach who fled joining the SEC, giving more credence to the claim he is indeed a soft coach. He fired Grinch this week but it may be mere window dressing as Riley has never fielded even a semi-successful defense. Riley probably did Oklahoma a favor, right, Dabo?
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We need Bob Stoops to replace Arnett in Starkville. Riley hit a good stride, but a lot of people considered him soft as well. He’s a pretty boy. Jumping ship before the SEC thing happened was very telling. Literally everyone knew what he was doing. Hell for the money he’s making in Anaheim, I would be too, plus it’s not Norman.
Football, not unlike life, is over-analyzed these days.
"Vainglorious and soft"
Seems to be a lot of that going around these days.
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