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.
Lincoln Riley
BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN-Imagn Content Services, LLC
“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.”
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