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USC coach Lincoln Riley talks with reporters during a news conference at Big Ten media days on Wednesday. (Doug McSchooler / Associated Press)
Lincoln Riley strode confidently into the cavernous confines of a new, unfamiliar stadium, one of the new coaches on the block in the Big Ten, surrounded on all sides by the novel and the unfamiliar. Everywhere inside Lucas Oil Stadium were reminders of how much his circumstances had changed since last season. New coaches, new players, new logos, new everything.
It wasn’t just the new conference and all its new trappings, though. The landscape of college athletics has been upended since USC beat Louisville in the Holiday Bowl in December.
Within the Trojans’ own building, so much had turned over, too. A new quarterback, a new defensive coordinator, a new defensive scheme and a new, stiffer schedule to handle, all with revenue sharing also on the horizon.
But amid all the new and unfamiliar at Big Ten media days, the message from Riley, at the start of his third season at USC, was, by now, a well-worn one. In fact, he offered an almost identical sentiment at this time last year, at Pac-12 media day … before USC finished a frustrating 9-5.
Read more: UCLA’s DeShaun Foster stumbles before regaining footing at Big Ten media days
In discussing the state of his program Wednesday at Big Ten media days, Riley declared that USC had made “progress in every way you can possibly measure” since he took over, but was still well in the midst of a “rebuild” nearly three years in, one he suggested was far more substantial than those his Big Ten counterparts took on.
In the same breath, Riley was also defiant that USC enters its new conference this year already among its upper tier, with its sights set on stacking national titles. How long he can successfully straddle both of those…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/lincoln-riley-brushes-off-criticism-003312793.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-07-25 00:33:12
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