Big 12 Football: Stogner says Lincoln Riley was a ‘distraction’ at OU

There was a massive shakeup to the Big 12 football landscape last fall when the now-former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley abruptly left Norman to take the head coaching job with the USC Trojans in the PAC-12 South. That move for Riley from Oklahoma to USC shocked not just the Big 12 landscape, but the entire college football world, due to how sudden and impactful it was to the sport.

It really feels like only Riley could turn the Sooners’ head coaching job into a bit of a stepping stone to the apparently greener pastures of USC.

But the departure of Riley from OU to USC also left an exodus of the rest of the Sooners players into the NCAA Transfer Portal in the last few months. Oklahoma lost both of their starting quarterbacks from the last two seasons in Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler, along with a plethora of other key skill position and defensive players to the transfer portal.

One loss for the Sooners that also made headlines in the last few months saw junior tight end Austin Stogner transfer to South Carolina, where he’ll link up with Rattler and former OU tight ends coach Shane Beamer in Columbia.

Former Big 12 football HC Lincoln Riley was reportedly a “disctraction” to Austin Stogner and Co. in his final days at OU

Stogner also had something to say regarding his departure from Oklahoma and how he felt the whole saga went down with Riley leaving Norman to take the USC head coaching job. In a piece from Chris Low of ESPN published on April 15, Stogner talked about the matter of his transfer to South Carolina along with Riley’s departure from Norman last fall.

When Riley was tied to all the rumors surrounding the job opening with the LSU Tigers following the firing of Ed Orgeron, Stogner said that his former head coach never really addressed anything that was going on. And that stemmed from the LSU rumors and the departure of Riley from Oklahoma to USC becoming a real “distraction” in the Sooners’ locker room, at least according to Stogner.

While that might seem pretty obvious, it’s interesting to hear how former Oklahoma players are addressing the way Riley’s departure actually went down in their eyes. His departure clearly didn’t sit well with the likes of Rattler and Stogner.

And that is likely to be the case with a number of the players in that Oklahoma locker room that were originally recruited by Riley and his coaching staff.

Nonetheless, Stogner, Rattler, and the Sooners are trying to turn the page from Riley’s departure last fall to focus on what lies ahead this year. Riley is getting hyped up as the potential savior of the USC program. And the duo of Stogner and Rattler landing with South Carolina could bolster the Gamecocks’ chances to make some noise in the SEC East this fall.

Oklahoma also is entering a new chapter for its program after they hired the former Clemson Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables to replace Riley as their next head coach this offseason.

Riley and the Sooners would finish up last season with a record of 11-2 (7-2 Big 12). Yet, it was the former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops that finished up last season for the Sooners after Riley left to take the USC job before their bowl game.