Lincoln Riley Reveals When He Found Out About USC’s Interest

College football fans who felt like Lincoln Riley's journey to USC came together quickly aren't alone—just ask Riley himself.

During the 38-year-old's introductory press conference in Los Angeles on Monday, Riley was asked about how he first learned about USC's interest in him. The Trojans fired former coach Clay Helton in September, and had been conducting a search over the past two months.

Riley, though, said he found out about USC's interest in him late Saturday night following Oklahoma's 37–33 loss to Oklahoma State.

"We got home late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, and got the information from USC that there was some real interest," Riley said. "We talked a little bit about it early that morning, slept for a couple of hours...it came together quickly, but in this day and age in college football, it kind of has to if it's going to, it's just the way of the world right now."

Later in the press conference, Riley was asked how quickly he thought he'd be able to turn the Trojans program around. USC is 4–7 this season and 22–20 over the past three years, and has just one conference championship over the last 13 seasons.

"In this day and age, I think it can happen quickly," Riley said. "There's a lot of good things going on in this program right now that we can absolutely build on. In this day and age, with the way college football works, you can turn over rosters in so many different ways ... the combination of the staff we're gonna bring in, the players we're gonna bring in, the leadership we have, the support we have ... How can we not do it? No time is soon enough."

Riley compiled a 55–10 record at Oklahoma, winning the Big 12 in each of his first four seasons with three College Football Playoff appearances.

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