Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans are a few weeks away from beginning fall camp for the 2025 season, and the momentum around the program is at an all-time high.
While last season was certainly disappointing in terms of wins and losses (7-6), there was massive improvement in critical areas, and the team was able to finish 3-1 with a Bowl win over an SEC opponent.
Pair that with a fantastic offseason and the current No. 1-ranked 2026 recruiting class, and you have a program that is set to return to its storied glory.
I think most would agree with this synopsis—most, except for SEC groupthink leader and ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum.
It was around this time last year when Finebaum began laying down the hammer on Riley, portraying that he didn’t think he was all that good of a coach, and that he would likely be fired after the 2024 season. He even went so far as to say that he thought Riley would be lucky to be an NFL assistant in 2025.
Well, it’s a new year, but we have the same ole Finebaum.
Paul Finebaum Labels USC Trojans HC Lincoln Riley As Coach Under Most Pressure
On a recent episode of ESPN’s Get Up, Finebaum was asked which coach was under the most pressure. His response?
“Lincoln Riley. And you asked the question, why? Because he has simply underperformed. He had a pretty decent first year, but since then, it has been very rocky. And quite frankly, I think he would already be gone if it wasn’t for about an $80 million buyout. Even for Southern Cal, that might be too much money.”
Now, to an extent, Finebaum isn’t completely wrong. Riley does have an immense amount of pressure this season. When you are the coach of USC, you always have that pressure, especially after back-to-back subpar seasons.
Hate USCause You Ain’t Us? Get Your USC Trojans Merch HERE!
There were moments last season where it felt like a real possibility that he would not make it through the entire year, specifically after losses to Minnesota and Maryland.
However, he remained steadfast in his belief that they were building the program the right way, and they were just going through some growing pains. In a similar fashion, AD Jen Cohen and the University have stood steadfast in their belief that Lincoln Riley is the right head coach to get them back to where they need to be.
They put their actions and money to work by adding two more esteemed coaches to the staff in Rob Ryan and Chad Savage. They also built arguably the best front office in all of college football, headlined by former Notre Dame GM Chad Bowden.
Some would argue that all of this puts even more pressure on Riley due to the fact that they have equipped him with everything needed to win. This is absolutely true.
However, you do not build all of this infrastructure if your head coach is on an extremely tight and short leash. Moving on at the first sign of adversity would risk blowing the entire thing up and wasting the past build years.
Make Sure To Subscribe To Our USC LAFB YouTube Channel!
CBS Sports just recently released its list of current college coaches with the hottest seats heading into 2025. They listed nine coaches who were at risk of being fired, and 5 other coaches whose seats were very warm.
Lincoln Riley was not listed among these 14.
There certainly is a lot of pressure on Riley to perform in 2025. What coach of a Blue Blood doesn’t have a huge amount of pressure?
But the most pressure? Well, that sounds more like Paul Finebaum just being Paul Finebaum. He loves talking about Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans.