All Sooners

Lincoln Riley Says Oklahoma's Leadership From Players is 'Very, Very Good'

After a "normal" players-only meeting this week, the Sooners' coach points out that teams with weak leadership don't usually win a lot of close games.
John E. Hoover|
Lincoln Riley Says Oklahoma's Leadership From Players is 'Very, Very Good'
Lincoln Riley Says Oklahoma's Leadership From Players is 'Very, Very Good'

When word of a players-only meeting leaks out to the public, it’s usually after a loss — or several losses.

Top-10 teams with undefeated records don’t usually have to clear the air.

So the players-only meeting at Oklahoma this week probably doesn’t fit the usual definition.

Sure, the 5-0 Sooners have issues heading into Saturday’s showdown with Texas, but according to an SI Sooners source, this players-only meeting wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but rather a spirited discussion within a regularly scheduled meeting of leaders on the team.

“You can have a players-only meeting in crisis mode or, you know, if something doesn't go well,” head coach Lincoln Riley said on Thursday. “But our guys have been pretty diligent about continuing to meet on their own, to have players-only get-together meetings, all that, kind of really throughout the offseason and throughout our season. It's pretty normal for us, which has been — it's been good.”

Riley reiterated that he believes in the leaders on the Oklahoma team, and that’s a big reason why the Sooners are undefeated after close tussles with Tulane, Nebraska, West Virginia and Kansas State.

“I think the leadership on this team is very good,” he said. “ … I don't think teams that have weak leadership win close games very often. Teams that excel in those moments, typically, I think, have strong leadership from from a player's point of view.”

Leadership evolves constantly on a college football team as boys become young men and young men become college graduates. It’s not always easy to identify, it can often be forced or come across as disingenuous, and it can be fleeting.

But Riley, a former high school quarterback who’s been a salaried football coach since 2007, feels like he knows good leadership when he sees it. But that doesn’t mean a team’s player leadership can’t continue to evolve.

“Our guys have been good,” he said. “They've been proactive. They've spent a lot of time. … 

“So no, I like the leadership this team and I would say, just like our team as a whole, all of us, I mean, we want that to continue to develop. You know, we want our leaders to continue to develop, we want our our young leaders to continue to develop, we want our people maybe that aren't leaders yet to continue to follow the right message and the right people at a high level.

“So, I think you always want it to improve. But … I would look at our team right now and characterize our team as a team that has some very, very good leadership and some guys that want to win really bad.”

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!

Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!

Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news. 

Published
John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

Share on XFollow johnehoover
Home/Football