New OU Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s Ties with Big 12, Air Raid

Following the University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops’ announcement to retire, the school has named offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley as the Sooners’ new head coach:

SOURCE: Bob Stoops & #OC AD Joe Castiglione have been grooming Lincoln Riley for this situation for over a year. https://t.co/yGy5Dv3i9R

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) June 7, 2017

With the hire, Riley becomes the FBS’ youngest head coach at 33 years old, replacing Memphis’ 35-year-old Mike Norvell.

“I’m sincerely honored to be given this opportunity to be the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma,” said Riley in a statement. “I want to thank Coach Stoops for bringing me here two years ago and making me part of the Sooner family. He is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, at any level. I’m absolutely thankful for our friendship and for the mentorship he has provided.”

No one knows if Riley will be a successful head coach, but he was as successful of a coordinator as anyone in the country. Riley, an air raid disciple, used his own variation of the air raid to build one of college football’s best offenses at Oklahoma, and interestingly enough, his history has plenty of Big 12 ties.

Riley walked on to Texas Tech in 2002 and played quarterback behind current TTU head coach Kliff Kingsbury. His head coach was Mike Leach, who coincidentally brought his air raid offense to Oklahoma in 1999, which was Bob Stoops’ first year as head coach. Now, Riley takes place of Stoops using an offense of his former head coach — the same offense that won Stoops a national championship in his second year.

Got all that?

Leach hired Riley as a graduate assistant in 2003, and he moved his way up to assistant coach by 2006. Riley served as the receivers coach, and his fellow (inside) receivers coach, Dana Holgorsen, would eventually bring the air raid offense to Oklahoma State in 2010.

But wait, I’m not finished.

Riley would then accept the offensive coordinator position under Eastern Carolina’s then-head coach Ruffin McNeil, who was Mike Leach’s assistant head coach from 2003-2009. It’s funny how coaching trees can be so cyclical.

Riley has worked with the best air raid coaches in football. His success at OU will be judged much later on, but there’s certainly precedent for young Big 12 assistant coaches, specifically air raid ones, finding a head coaching job. Apart from Leach, Holgorsen and Kingsbury, Art Briles, Sonny Dykes, Dino Babers, Kevin Sumlin and Kevin Wilson all found head coaching jobs by way of both the Big 12 and the air raid.