I don’t know if anyone has put it in these terms yet, but what what Lincoln Riley has done is historic in that LR is the first coach to have left the Goons for another college coaching job in 75 years. Every other coach has either retired (Wilkinson, Switzer, and Stoops) or left for the NFL (Chuck Fairbanks).
You have to go back to 1946, when Jim Tatum left OU for Maryland after just one season, to find an OU coach who left OU for another college job. Before that, Biff Jones left OU for Nebraska in 1936 due to - get this - too many dust storms in Oklahoma (players and coaches were often covered with dust after practicing in Jones’ two seasons).
So, for someone to spurn OU for another program the way Riley did is nearly unprecedented.
You have to go back to 1946, when Jim Tatum left OU for Maryland after just one season, to find an OU coach who left OU for another college job. Before that, Biff Jones left OU for Nebraska in 1936 due to - get this - too many dust storms in Oklahoma (players and coaches were often covered with dust after practicing in Jones’ two seasons).
So, for someone to spurn OU for another program the way Riley did is nearly unprecedented.
