TMG Newsmaker of The Week: Lincoln Riley

USC coach has almost made the turnaround in one season.

When Lincoln Riley made the mega and somewhat stunning move to go from Oklahoma to USC last December, conventional wisdom said USC would be much better under Riley's tutelage.

Just look at a resume which included 4 Big 12 conference championships, three Heisman Trophy finalists and two winners (soon to be 3),  and 3 CFP appearances. in f ive years.

But Riley was coming to USC program which hadn't seen glory days in more than a decade, was coming off a 4-8 season and had only 10 returning starters.

As good as Riley was at Oklahoma--55-10 in 5 season--most people thought it would take a least a year to establish a new identity for the Trojans.

In the pre-season, USC was almost invisible in Top 20 pre-season predictions .(a Jersey Guy picked them No. 4).

But Riley arrived in Los Angeles in a full sprint. He established a beach head by purchasing a $17.5 million house and then he brought in QB Caleb Williams from Oklahoma and Biletnikoff winner Jordan Adddison from Pittsburgh through the portal transfer system, which stocked talent at every position.

Add more than generous Name Image and Licensing payouts for top tier players and you have a formula for success which produced an 11-1 regular season record and a spot in Friday night's Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas against Utah.

The Utes were only team to outscore the Trojans this season, posting a 43-42 victory on Oct. 15 in Salt Lake City.

If the Trojans can reverse that process, they will be a part of the CFP Final Four with the front runner to win the Heisman in Williams.

Riley did it all-or almost all of it--in one quick s season offering a bit of advice for the new trend in college football programs, saying that the years of building programs over a mutli-year period are over. 

College football is now about reconstructing program on a yearly basis and Riley has done it better than anyone which is TMG's Newsmaker of The Week.