Skip to main content

Lincoln Riley: "I definitely haven't considered" the possibility of no 2020 football season

Sooners head coach expresses dissatisfaction with restrictions, but is keeping an optimistic outlook

Oklahoma head football coach Lincoln Riley is getting restless, but he’s doing his best to search for the positives as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to prevent virtually all athletic activity.

“I think there’s definitely been some silver lining,” said Riley as he opened his media teleconference on Tuesday. “I do think [that in the future] there will be… an appreciation for things that we maybe overlooked a little bit when life was a lot more normal.”

Riley had expressed a degree of impatience with his staff’s restricted access to players last week, and he seemed to still harbor some residual frustration. Specifically, he took issue with the time limit on team activities that the NCAA has allotted.

“I think some of this will evolve, but I do still kinda wonder how we settled on the two hours work period right now, football-wise, when we’re supposed to have 20 hours a week with our guys,” Riley pondered. “With the amount of time that these guys have right now, there’s a lot of time we can be improving those guys. I hope at some point we can ramp that up a little bit.”

Nevertheless, Riley said that he’s pleased with how his staff has reacted to the sudden and dramatic change of circumstances. He offered particular recognition to his strength and nutrition assistants.

“It’s become very individualized,” said Riley. “Give Coach (Bennie) Wylie and our strength team and our nutrition staff a lot of credit, because you can’t just lay out a blanket plan for your team.”

And despite the fact that Riley can’t work to refine the skills of Spencer Rattler and Tanner Mordecai, he re-emphasized his confidence in both players. Rattler is expected to start in the fall, but Mordecai will provide competition for the job.

“It certainly helps that they’ve been in the system, that they’ve got a good understanding of what they’re doing,” Riley said. “Any time you’re limited on what you can do, you put a greater focus on those areas.”

When asked what the fall might look like without football, Riley flatly refused to acknowledge the possibility.

“I definitely haven’t considered it. I don’t think it’s gonna do me or us any good,” he said. “None of us know exactly what it looks like right now. I think if we’re spending time on that right now, then we’re not spending time on our guys. We’ll adjust as time goes on.”

So no, Riley’s won’t even entertain the thought of not playing the 2020 season. He’ll continue to prepare his players and his game plans as if there will be football in the fall. Why?

“I feel like by September," he said, "the world’s gonna need football.”

To get the latest OU posts as they happen, join the SI Sooners Community by clicking “Follow” at the top right corner of the page (mobile users can click the notifications bell icon), and follow SI Sooners on Twitter @All_Sooners.