It was announced last week that Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops was retiring, and Sooner offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley would step into his spot as head coach. At 33, Riley is the youngest head football coach in FBS. But just because he’s young doesn’t mean he isn’t experienced.
Riley is one of many current college coaches to branch off the Mike Leach coaching tree. Alongside names like Art Briles, Sonny Dykes and Dana Holgorsen, Riley started his career coaching as an assistant under Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Riley started working with Leach as a student assistant in 2003, but before that he played for him as a walk on quarterback in 2002 under Kliff Kingsbury.