Oklahoma Football
Offensive Coordinator Lincoln Riley Introduction
Jan. 17, 2015
Head coach Bob Stoops’ opening statement:
“I am excited to introduce to you guys, guys and ladies, the State of Oklahoma, all of the Sooner fans our new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley. Lincoln is a guy that has had incredible experience here at a young age. I always look at the quality of experience to go with how much experience a guy has.
“First, I had a direction I wanted to go. I felt through the last several years we have kind of gravitated away from where we started here and that was in a Hal Mumme/(Mike) Leach type system with what we’re doing and how we’re moving the football. We had some success with it through the years and just little by little here in the last several years we have kind of slowly drifted away from it.
“I had a goal in mind to get back to running that type of system and I felt I got the absolute best guy to do it. He is a guy that has come up through it, understands it inside and out, and has had success running it. He has been the offensive coordinator and play caller for the last five years at East Carolina. I don’t have to go into all of the statistics. They were in the top five or six in the country in total offense, they are in the top several in third-down conversions on and on. He is a guy that has been putting it together and they have had a bunch of big victories over the last couple of years. A couple of wins against North Carolina State, a couple of big wins against North Carolina with big scores. They beat Virginia Tech, again putting points on the board. I really felt strongly about his background and the success he has had running his system.
“Again, he’s a guy that comes up through a tree that I have had a lot of success with and really believe in and I believe he is the perfect guy to move forward in the direction we want to go. I am very aware, as Lincoln is, the quality of running backs we have here. That will not be a problem. They averaged, I believe, over 160 yards per game rushing a year ago. As bright as Lincoln is, he will find a way to take advantage of the great running backs we have and tailor our offense to the great personnel we have.
“Today is going to be about Lincoln and you guys asking him questions. I will tell you we continue to fill the other two (assistant coaching) jobs. We haven’t yet. I am working hard on it and have a strong idea of where I want to go with that, but I’m not ready to expand on that any further. So here I’ll open it up to Lincoln and you can make a statement and talk a little bit if you have a few remarks and then you guys can fire away at Lincoln. He is going to take the shots here today.”
Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley opening statement:
“It’s absolutely an honor to be here. It’s a little surreal to walk in to this environment and this program. It’s something that I have wanted for a long time. It’s something that my wife and I have been very picky about for the last few years as we have been blessed to have some opportunities. We were looking for a lot of specific things ourselves, like coach said. We were first looking for a great person. I was able to have that with Ruffin McNeil over the last several years at East Carolina and I know what I’m getting into working at Oklahoma with Coach Stoops.
“It’s honestly hard to match it. Coming into a program like this, coming to a place that is very committed to what we are going to be doing offensively were things that were very important to me. Having a chance to getting back close to home was a bonus, too. It’s been a great ride. Things have happened for me quickly. I have worked hard and I have also been very, very fortunate to work for some great people and to learn from some great people. To be in the right place at the right time, things have kind of just timed out for me. I’m very, very humbled. I’m very, very thankful. I’m very, very excited to get to work here. I just can’t wait to get started.”
RILEY – On how he takes advantage of his personnel within his system:
“I think that’s one of the beautiful things of this offense, is that it can become whatever we need it to become. We’ll go recruit certain players for certain positions certainly and we will look at different skill sets but at the same time I don’t think that we need a lot of specific things to make it work. Growing up and learning this from Mike Leach and Dana Holgorsen and all of those guys I was able to work with at Texas Tech as I was learning, what I always appreciated was how open-minded they were.
“I think coaches can sometimes be too original with what they are looking for. I think that can limit you because if they personnel doesn’t fit exactly what you’re looking for you could have a little disconnect there. I love the personnel that we have here from what I have been able to see early. I know we have a lot of good players and we are going to continue to bring in a lot of good players. We’re going to take a lot of pride in doing what our guys do well and making sure that our best players touch the ball and that we put our guys in position to make as many plays as they can.”
RILEY – On whether he has a goal of running plays in a certain amount of time:
“No, it’s more of a feel. How we are moving. Our whole deal is doing what it takes for us to move the ball and that’s what we will do. In some situations it’s great. In other situations we have to be able to slow it down and run the clock and use the clock. We need to be good at all of them.”
