Big 12 Football: Could Lincoln Riley land as the Eagles head coach?

A very prominent Big 12 football head coach, OU’s Lincoln Riley, is reportedly in contact with the Eagles about their recent job opening.

The time has already come around the Big 12 football landscape for the coaching carousel to start spinning rampantly. The Texas football program already parted ways with now former fourth-year head coach Tom Herman, and replaced him with Steve Sarkisian, back on Jan 2. But the coaching carousel is starting to spin fast around the entire football landscape this month (at both the college and NFL level).

One of the most high profile coaching jobs that is bound to open up around the NFL landscape entering next offseason is now currently on the forefront of the coaching carousel, with the Philadelphia Eagles. Earlier in the week, the Eagles parted ways with now former head coach Doug Pederson following a tough 4-11-1 campaign in 2020.

Pederson was the Eagles head coach for five years, and made the playoffs on three occasions, including winning a Super Bowl more than two years ago. On two of the three occasions that the Eagles made the playoffs under Pederson’s guidance, they made it through the Wild Card Round.

The final nail in the coffin did wind up coming this season for Pederson with the Eagles, especially since the door was wide open for them to win the NFC East crown. All it took for the Washington Football Team was a seven win regular season to win the division and make the playoffs.

Moreover, there are some early coaching candidates emerging from the college football coaching ranks in the Eagles search to find their next bench boss entering next offseason. According to Eagles insider Geoff Mosher, one of the early candidates emerging in the search to find a replacement for Pederson is a huge name in the Big 12.

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley has to be a highly sought after candidate for teams in the NFL that are bound to have head coach openings in the near future. And he reportedly is already in the running to get the Eagles job. Mosher reported that the Eagles at least are in contact with Riley for the job following Pederson’s departure.

Riley has revolutionized the Oklahoma offense, and taken the program as a whole to new heights in terms of sustained success at the top of the Big 12 standings. He’s one of the brightest offensive minds there is in football (in college or the NFL) today.

During his four years as Oklahoma’s head coach, Riley registered a record of 45-8 (.849 winning percentage), and took the Big 12 Championship back to Norman each season. His offenses have also averaged at least 42 points per game each passing season during his tenure as head coach in Norman, which is the only Big 12 program that can boast that during that span of time.

Oklahoma finished up the 2020 campaign with a record of 9-2 (7-2 Big 12) following their big Sugar Bowl victory over the Florida Gators last month. If Riley does feel like this is the right time to take his coaching talents to the NFL ranks, the Eagles could be the landing spot for him.