Lincoln Riley is from the West Texas town of Muleshoe (population 5,000). Riley graduated from Texas Tech in 2006 with a degree in exercise and sports sciences.

A quarterback, he walked on at Texas Tech but later became a student coach under head coach Mike Leach. In 2007, he got the job as wide receivers coach.

He was inside receivers coach in 2008 and 2009. He tutored wide receiver Michael Crabtree who won the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in the nation in 2007. Crabtree has 1,962 receiving yards (a Big 12 freshman record) with 134 receptions and 22 scores.

Riley was on the staff of the Red Raiders for seven years, including five bowl victories.

Leach was fired just prior to the 2010 Alamo Bowl and Riley was called on as interim offensive coordinator. In the Alamo Bowl, Texas Tech had 579 yards of total offense in a 41-31 win over Michigan State.

East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeil hired Riley as his offensive coordinator and quarterback coach in 2010 and Riley spent five years there. Riley put in a new high-powered offense and ECU set more than 50 team or individual offensive records. His teams set the top five passing records in school history.

Riley was promoted as 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). The Pirates set a single-season school record with 6,929 yards of total offense.

Riley tutored walk-on wide receiver Justin Hardy, who broke an NCAA record (387 catches) previously held by former Sooner Ryan Broyles (349). He also coached Zay Jones, a recent second-round NFL draft pick. Jones broken Hardy’s record with 399 career receptions.

Riley shaped the careers of ECU quarterbacks Dominque Davis and Shane Carden. Davis set ECU career records for completions and TD passes in just two seasons.  Davis ranked second among major college quarterbacks with 393 completions and 46 touchdowns in 2010. He set an NCAA record with 36 straight completions in 2011.

Carden starred in 2012 and broke most of Davis’ records, becoming the first 4,000-yard passer in program history and setting single-season standards for completion percentage (70.5 in 2013) and passing yards (4,736 in 2014).

Former OU coach Bob Stoops fired offensive coordinator Josh Heupel after a disastrous bowl loss to Clemson and hired Riley as his new offensive coordinator in 2015. OU’s up-tempo offense had floundered and Stoops wanted some new blood on his staff. The OU offense blossomed under Riley. The Sooner record since then is 46-8 – the fourth best record in the nation in that time period.

In a surprise move, Stoops retired and Riley became the head coach on June 76, 2017. At 33, Riley was the youngest division one head coach in the nation at his hiring.

It was a brilliant hire.

Riley has led OU to three straight Big 12 championships (now five in a row) and three straight trips to the College Football Playoff. His record is 35-5 and he bypassed OU legend Barry Switzer  for the most wins by a head coach for his first two seasons (21).

Riley coached OU quarterback Baker Mayfield, a transfer walk-on from Texas Tech, for three seasons. In 2017, Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy and was the No. 1 pick (by the Cleveland Browns) in the NFL Draft. A year later, OU quarterback Kyler Murray, a transfer from Texas A&M, won the Heisman Trophy and was the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals.

Under Riley, OU wide receiver Dede Westbrook (Jacksonville Jaguars) was fourth in the Heisman voting in 2016 and won the Biletnikoff Award. Former OU tight end Mark Andrews, now the Baltimore Ravens, won OU’s first Mackey Award in 2017.  With Riley’s coaching, running back Joe Mixon (Cincinnati Bengals) set the OU season all-purpose yards record (2,331) and running back set the OU career rushing record (4,122 yards).

In 2018, after a sobering loss to Texas, Riley fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. In 2019, he replaced him with Alex Grinch from Ohio State.

OU’s defense improved drastically in 2019.

When asked about players who unexpectedly stepped up as leaders, Riley said, “I would say our two young safeties, Delarrin Turner-Yell, and Patrick Fields. They’ve been instrumental in the improvements we’ve made defensively. Done a great job with Coach Grinch and his system. Very impressive at a young age.”