LSU athletic director Scott Woodward was brought to Baton Rouge for one reason -- make the right hires needed to lead the LSU program through the next decade.
Woodward's ability to make transformative hires has been his calling card for years. It has only grown during his brief return to the Pelican State with the hires of Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey to lead the women's basketball team and poached Pac-12 Coach of the Year Jay Johnson from the Arizona baseball program.
But it is this hire that he be most remembered for, at least around these parts, so the pressure is building in Baton Rouge.
In this series, TigerDetails will explore the options for LSU under a traditional Rivals headline "Making the Case." In the third part of the series, writer Julie Boudwin takes a dive into Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley's career.
-- LSU coaching search: 13 potential replacements for Ed Orgeron --
PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS OF MAKING THE CASE
THE RESUME
Texas Tech
Riley played quarterback at Texas Tech as a walk-on in 2002 and became a student assistant to Mike Leach a year later.
He spent seven seasons on the staff at Texas Tech, where he was part of seven bowl teams and five bowl wins. During that span, Red Raiders quarterbacks won NCAA passing titles in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007. Riley immersed himself in Leach’s offense and worked his way into a full-time position as wide receivers coach in 2007. He served as inside receivers coach in 2008-09, and eventually called plays as interim offensive coordinator in the 2010 Alamo Bowl, where the Red Raiders racked up 579 yards in a 41-31 victory over Michigan State to cap the 2009 season.
Under Riley’s guidance in 2007, wide receiver Michael Crabtree won the Biletnikoff Award after smashing Big 12 records and NCAA freshman standards with 134 receptions for 1,962 yards. Crabtree also accumulated 22 touchdown catches his first season. In fact, wide receiver Danny Amendola joined Crabtree that year as Texas Tech receivers who each amassed 100-catch, 1,000-yard efforts.
East Carolina
Riley had a highly successful five-year stint as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach under Ruffin McNeill at East Carolina from 2010-14.
At East Carolina, Riley installed and directed a spread offensive scheme that made an immediate impact as the Pirates set more than 50 team or individual school offensive records in his five seasons with the program. His squads recorded the top five passing seasons in school history and the top four marks for total offense in a season.
He spent his final season with the Pirates serving in the role of assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach in 2014 as the team ranked third in the nation in passing offense (371.9 ypg) and was fifth in total offense (533.0 ypg). With Riley calling the shots, the Pirates set a single-season school record with 6,929 yards of total offense.
Riley’s East Carolina offensive units routinely earned national top-10 rankings in major statistical categories such as passing offense (third in 2014, eighth in 2010), scoring offense (fifth in 2014, eighth in 2013), third-down conversion percentage (seventh in 2013) and red zone scoring efficiency (third in 2012, fifth in 2010).
Oklahoma
Riley was hired by Bob Stoops to become the offensive coordinator of the Oklahoma Sooners in January of 2015. When Stoops retired in 2017, Riley was named the new head coach.
As Oklahoma's 22nd head coach, all Riley has done in his first four years at the helm is lead the Sooners to their 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Big 12 titles and to four New Year's Six bowl berths (three College Football Playoffs). He was also named the 2018 Co-Big 12 Coach of the Year.
Since the start of the 2015 campaign, OU ranks first nationally in scoring (44.4 ppg; next most is 41.7), total offense (546.5; next most is 504.3), touchdowns from scrimmage (439), pass efficiency rating (186.5; next best is 173.5) and yards per pass attempt (10.6), second in completion percentage (69.0), third in passing offense (320.9) and ninth in rushing offense (225.5). With that kind of offensive production, it’s no surprise the Sooners have posted a 67-12 (.848) record since his arrival (47-7 in Big 12 play). OU’s overall mark since 2015 is fourth best nationally, with only Alabama (79-6), Clemson (79-7) and Ohio State (68-8) having better records.
Riley has had numerous players reach success under his guidance at Oklahoma, from Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray winning Heisman Trophies in 2017 and 2018 to Jalen Hurts being a runner-up for the prestigious award.
Here's a full list of prominent players under Riley over the years:
• Creed Humphrey (Oklahoma); Second-Team All-American; Two-time Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year; Two-time First-Team All-Big 12
• Jalen Hurts (Oklahoma); Heisman Trophy runner-up; Second-Team All-American, First-Team All-Big 12; Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year
• CeeDee Lamb (Oklahoma); Consensus First-Team All-American; Unanimous First-Team All-Big 12; Biletnikoff Award Finalist
• Kyler Murray (Oklahoma); Heisman Trophy; Davey O'Brien Award, Manning Award, AP Player of the Year, First-Team All-American; Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year
• Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma); Heisman Trophy; Maxwell Award, Davey O'Brien Award, Manning Award, Unanimous First-Team All-American; Two-time First-Team All-American; Sporting News National Player of the Year; Two-time Burlsworth Trophy winner; Two-time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year
• Mark Andrews (Oklahoma); Mackey Award; Unanimous First-Team All-American
• Orlando Brown (Oklahoma); Unanimous First-Team All-American; Outland Trophy Finalist; Two-time Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year
• Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (Oklahoma); First-Team All-American
• Dede Westbrook (Oklahoma); Heisman Finalist; Biletnikoff Award; Unanimous First-Team All-American; Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year
• Justin Hardy (East Carolina), Falcons; Burlsworth Trophy; First-Team All-Conference USA; First-Team All-AAC
• Shane Carden (East Carolina); Conference USA MVP; AAC Offensive Player of the Year
• Dominique Davis (East Carolina), Conference USA Newcomer of the Year • Dwayne Harris (East Carolina), First-Team All-Conference USA
• Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech), Biletnikoff Award; First-Team All-American; First-Team All-Big 12
• Danny Amendola (Texas Tech)
THE FIT
Riley is known as an offensive mastermind in the college football world and a quarterback guru, which is why we've seen the Sooners recruit so well offensively over the years. He even beat out LSU last year for No. 1 dual-threat quarterback Caleb Williams, who has come on for Spencer Rattler these last few weeks and has been absolutely outstanding, plus, he's fun to watch.
His spread attack offense is QB-friendly with play-action and RPOs. If you go back and research his offensive schemes, Riley is creative and if paired with the talent LSU has year in and out, the offense would have the potential to put up big numbers in the SEC.
Riley's name carries a lot of weight in the world of recruiting and it easy to assume that some players would follow him to Baton Rouge if that's the route Woodward decides to go. A national powerhouse and brand like LSU sells itself, but having Riley as the head coach could certainly elevate the program to new heights, especially offensively, and have recruits (and their parents) suddenly interested in the Tigers.
THE CONCERNS
There's only a handful of concerns that standout when you think of a name like Riley, and none have to do with off the field issues.
The biggest concern some LSU fans may have about Riley would be his defensive struggles. Under Riley, OU has always played with a high-powered offense that could score at will to overcome their defensive struggles. Currently, the 9-0 Sooners rank 63rd in the country defensively, giving up an average of 381.1 yards per game, which is slightly better than the 2021 LSU undermanned defense at No. 81 in the nation, giving up an average of 397.3 per game.
But one would think that with Riley's offensive knowledge and ability to gather talent along with the talent pool the state of Louisiana produces yearly, especially on defense, seems as though it could work, depending on the defensive coordinator he would want to hire.
For what it's worth, Riley did sign five-star outside linebacker Clayton Smith, four-star cornerback Latrell McCutchin and four-star defensive end Nathan Rawlins-Kibinge in last year's OU class with along with five-stars Caleb Williams and wide receiver Mario Williams.
MAKING THE CASE
There's no doubt about it, Riley is one of the biggest names in the college football world and if he wanted to make the move from Oklahoma to LSU it would pay dividends on the recruiting trail and certainly shake things up in the SEC moving forward.
Riley has been a name that we (TigerDetails) have mentioned from the beginning as a potential candidate, even as one of our A-Listers and one that makes a lot of sense. Why, you ask?
Riley has proven everything he can possibly prove at OU other than winning the big one, and it seems like that may never happen with the way the Sooners continuously struggle on defense, plus it's going to get a whole lot harder to reach a conference title game or a national title once Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC. The road to the end will just be tougher. Also, the LSU brass have shown nothing but support and willingness to spend money to make the program one of the best in the country, from the recently renovated facilities and locker room to at one point making Dave Aranda the nation's highest paid assistant coach in America at $2.5 million a year as the defensive coordinator.
Why not take his resume and creative offense to a talent-laden state where the last three head coaches have all won titles? The LSU AD is known as "Hollywood" Woodward for a reason, and if he hired Riley it would be the biggest splash possible.
