·Riley tells Tiki and Tierney: Players owe me nothing; I have to earn their respect
Unless your name is Bob Stoops or Joe Castiglione, odds are you were caught by surprise on Wednesday when news broke that Stoops was stepping down as the coach at Oklahoma. And that includes Stoops' replacement, Lincoln Riley.
Riley appeared on CBS Sports Radio's Tiki and Tierney Show on Friday afternoon, and he said things happened so quickly that he wasn't even able to have his parents at the press conference announcing the move.
"It happened that quick," Riley said.
"It was sudden," continued Riley. "I don't know how long [stepping down] had been on [Stoops'] mind. I think that's a little bit more to him, but we've had a lot of talks over the last few years. He knew I wanted to be a head coach and knew I wanted to learn from him and be able to bounce things off him. So a lot of great talks. But you just never even imagine something like this.
"We had a visit a few days before and I knew there was a chance that might be possible. And yeah, each visit got a little bit more serious, and I found out officially three or four hours before we had the press conference. So when it happened, it happened quickly."
A lot of things have happened "quickly" for Riley. While he has been coaching on the college level in some capacity for 15 years, at the age of 33 -- he'll turn 34 during the season -- he's now the youngest head coach on the FBS level. And when you do see young coaches getting head coaching jobs, they're usually at smaller schools, not schools with the history and expectations of Oklahoma.
Still, it's hard to argue against Oklahoma's decision. Riley's offenses in Norman have been outstanding during his first two seasons at Oklahoma, and they're a big reason why the Sooners were in the College Football Playoff two years ago and won another Big 12 title.
