Because the fabled battle music heats up and the legendary gesture wags anew, let’s get one factor straight about what was as soon as the Los Angeles sports activities panorama’s shining monument.
USC soccer has develop into a mirage.
The greatness is gone. The brand new custom is mediocrity. The brand new heritage is irrelevance.
“Fight on” has develop into “Paddle on,” with every ensuing season an exasperating train in protecting that Trojan helmet afloat.
This isn’t opinion. This isn’t hyperbole. That is reality.
Within the final 16 seasons USC has recorded double-digit victories 5 instances.
Throughout that very same time span, Alabama has recorded double-digit victories 15 instances.
Within the final 16 seasons, USC has had one main bowl victory.
Throughout that very same span, Ohio State has 10 main bowl victories.
Because the departure of Pete Carroll after the 2009 season, the Trojan soccer program has been rocked by NCAA punishment, roiled by a litany of ill-fitting coaches, betrayed by a string of embarrassing losses, and customarily kneecapped by its personal hubris.
This was as soon as the best dynasty in faculty soccer historical past. I do know, I used to be there, and infrequently has one crew energized and impressed this whole metropolis like Uncle Pete’s champions.
However watching video from these days is like watching an alien soccer crew on Mars. The present product, with all its failures and excuses, is sort of utterly unrecognizable.
Up to now 16 years, this system has dissolved into the equal of a mediocre wannabe that not competes with the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Georgia and Clemson.
USC has mainly develop into the opposite USC — a South Carolina-type program crammed with huge aspirations however common outcomes.
The Athletic not too long ago ranked faculty soccer packages when it comes to worth. Regardless of enjoying within the nation’s leisure capital alongside the nation’s most useful skilled basketball and baseball groups, the Trojans ranked solely eighth. They had been estimated as being price practically $1 billion lower than top-ranked Texas, a faculty that performs in a a lot smaller market with eight fewer nationwide titles.
Which brings us to the doorstep of one other seemingly nondescript season, however one framed in a bold-faced query.
Lincoln Riley must be higher, proper? He has to win double-digit video games for less than the second time in his 4 seasons, proper? He has to steer the 2025 squad to a bowl recreation that isn’t performed in San Diego or Las Vegas, proper?
USC coach Lincoln Riley walks on the sphere throughout a timeout towards Nebraska on the Coliseum on Nov. 16.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
Most people assume Riley is just not on a sizzling seat due to the untenable value of his buyout, reportedly within the neighborhood of $80 million.
That higher be fallacious.
If USC desires to return to its former glory, Trojan directors should maintain Riley accountable for additional tarnishing that shine.
In a billion-dollar business, with a $200-million soccer facility presently beneath development, USC can’t view its coach by means of a monetary lens, solely a soccer lens. They need to insist that he win soccer video games at a price greater than, say, the man he changed.
By 40 video games, Riley is 26-14. By 40 video games, Clay Helton was 28-12 as a head coach.
Helton was publicly torn from limb to limb, but Riley will get a go?
Riley is 7-6 with out Caleb Williams. He’s 3-9 towards ranked opponents. He has misplaced just about each huge recreation and blown virtually each huge second.
If he doesn’t change the narrative this season, USC wants to vary the coach.
The Trojans have stabilized their entrance workplace with sharp athletic director Jen Cohen and extremely regarded normal supervisor Chad Bowden. They’ve made large financial investments in infrastructure and recruiting.
Now it’s on Riley. And he must get it executed now.
If Texas A&M can pony up $77.5 million to purchase out Jimbo Fisher, USC can discover the cash to interchange Riley. The price is unimaginable, however the worth of falling additional behind in an evolving sport the place no less than a dozen packages have already left them within the mud is even greater.
“I give a lot of credit to our administration … because it’s very apparent that USC is extremely serious about making this football program and returning it back to being one of the greats in college football,” Riley mentioned to reporters Thursday at Massive Ten media day in Las Vegas.
He’s proper. The whole lot is there for him to succeed.
Take the 2025 schedule. It’s the lightest in years. The Trojans don’t play Ohio State. They don’t play Penn State. They don’t play Indiana. They play Michigan on the Coliseum.
Their solely powerful nonconference recreation is at Notre Dame. Their solely critical hurdle on the street is at Oregon.
USC ought to maintain Riley to an ordinary of 10 wins, which ought to make the Trojans aggressive for one of many 12 playoff spots.
Definitely, that’s a number of mandated wins. However in some unspecified time in the future, the Trojan administration has to start out demanding that they develop into the Trojans once more, and that point is now.
They actually can’t give Riley a grace interval as a result of he has the nation’s prime recruiting class because of arrive in 2026. Riley has been right here 4 years, the expertise ought to be right here by now, and he shouldn’t be allowed to carry this system hostage till his finest class reveals up.
USC coach Lincoln Riley walks on the sideline throughout a win towards Louisiana State on Sept. 1.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Occasions)
You need to choose Riley by impactful gamers? Choose him by this 12 months’s quarterback, Jayden Maiava. He’s Riley’s private undertaking, having been anointed the starter with out offseason competitors from the portal.
Maiava was each uncooked and sensible final 12 months after changing Miller Moss, going 3-1 as a starter capped by a 17-point comeback in a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Texas A&M. He accomplished lower than 60% of his passes in three of the 4 begins, and threw six interceptions to offset his 11 landing passes, however his athleticism is spectacular and his arm is superb.
It says right here the brand new child has an opportunity to be nice. Riley can remind Trojan followers of his finest asset if he can lead the brand new child to that greatness.
“His arm talent, the decisiveness in which he plays and how he sees things is really unique and has a chance to be really special,” Riley mentioned, later repeating, “He has a chance to be a really, really special player.”
And USC has an opportunity to have a extremely particular season.
For certain. For actual.
For the second time in 17 years.
