USC Football HC Lincoln Riley expresses what he regrets about OU exit

USC Football Head Coach Lincoln Riley left the inferior Oklahoma football program for the Trojans almost a year ago today. The situation all happened rather quickly, as Riley announced he was taking the Trojans' job a day after the Sooners' season ended.

Of course, this wasn't a big deal, as it's the norm in college football these days. Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU right away as well, and he even swore he wasn't going anywhere. Coaches taking new jobs have to leave as soon as possible due to early signing day now happening so...early.

Oklahoma fans are very sensitive, however, and were very offended by what Riley did. Interestingly, Riley did admit that he could have handled the situation better than he did on ESPN's College Gameday this week:

"I know I hurt people there," said Riley. "And I live with that, I've got to own that. There are things I would change, there are."

Riley didn't specify exactly what he would have done differently, but he did talk about the big picture of what he did wrong and what he would have liked to do better.

"I absolutely did not handle the situation perfectly," said Riley. "I let my emotions get a hold of me at times too. And I can imagine both sides would probably say that."

USC Football Head Coach Lincoln Riley spoke about the backlash and how he handled it during the split.

"At times I felt some of the backlash and I got out of character there," said USC Football Head Coach Lincoln Riley. "I'm disappointed about it because I did not do a good job of that. I wish I could get it back. I can't, but it'll never change how I feel about the place."

After all, Riley was vocal about his appreciation for Norman and the program over there during his departure. He accomplished quite a bit there. He won four straight Big 12 titles during his five-year run there. His one season where he didn't win the Big 12 title, he still finished 11-2 with a Top 10 final ranking.

OU has been awful since Riley has left--as they are barely bowl eligible through 11 games at 6-5. It's of course been a wildly different story at USC, as Riley made these recent comments while sitting at No. 7 in all of college football.