ESPN personality Paul Finebaum isn’t a fan of USC football coach Lincoln Riley, that’s for sure.
During this Monday’e episode of “First Take,” Finebaum was asked if USC’s one-game suspension for linebacker Desman Stephens II was enough of a punishment. He knocked Oregon quarterback Dante Moore out of Saturday night’s game with a violent and illegal hit.
Not only did Finebaum rip Riley for only handing out a one-game suspension, he urged USC to fire its head coach as soon as possible.
“It’s an utter disgrace. What we saw here was a tale of an elite coach and a complete fraud of a coach. I think everybody knows who the fraud is,” Finebaum said. “It’s Lincoln Riley… it will cost about $70 million to get rid of Lincoln Riley. But I promise you, USC people, it will be worth it because this guy is bringing your program down to the gutter.”
Even Lincoln Riley’s longtime supporters have abandoned him.
When Riley was hired as USC’s head coach in November 2021, he was expected to bring the program back to its glory days. Some TV personalities, like Colin Cowherd, thought he was a home-run hire for the Trojans.
Things have gotten so stale at USC that even Cowherd is starting to question Riley’s culture in Southern California.
“There was a moment in this game, pretty frightening. You see this happen a half dozen times, maybe more, a year in college or pro football, where a quarterback slides, and a defender, you know, hammers him. And Desman Stephens did here,” Cowherd said. “It’s ugly. It makes your stomach turn… but what really bothers me was the defensive player went to the sideline and was laughing about it, high-fiving people, had no self-awareness. USC’s program is a little too casual, a little too sophomoric, a little too high school. You think Curt Cignetti at Indiana’s sideline would’ve looked like that? No.”
Could Riley turn things around? Sure, but he’s running out of time.
