When a college football coach leaves a program they helped build for another more buzzworthy or higher-paying job, it is easy for people to get swept up in the excitement of the new hire. The focus will be on the impact he can add to that school. But what about the program that was ditched for “greener pastures?” Oklahoma football is still weathering the storm left by Lincoln Riley's departure.
Riley inherited a powerhouse from the great Bob Stoops but still left his own indelible mark in Norman during his near-five-year tenure as Sooners head coach. He amassed a 55-10 record, helped mold future Heisman Winners and Overall No. 1 NFL Draft picks and led the team to three appearances in the College Football Playoff. All of the success just made his abrupt exit in 2021 that much more devastating for the entire community.
Riley's decision to go to Hollywood in an attempt to restore the USC empire was inevitably going to leave behind hardship in its wake. But leaving before the Alamo Bowl set the entire program into a tailspin, from which it is still trying to recover. Sooners tight end Austin Stogner transferred and played last season at South Carolina. The 23-year-old has now returned to Oklahoma football for his final season. He revealed the reason behind his initial departure.
“When {Riley} left, stuff hit the fan and it was kind of a crazy deal,” Stogner told OU Insider. “I tried to make the best decision for me and I thought that was going to a coach that I had played for (Shane Beamer)…. And I went and had a great experience there.”
Chaos apparently hit the team hard. Many top Sooners like star quarterback Caleb Williams followed Riley to the Trojans, leading to Oklahoma's first losing season since 1998. The adversity is only going to pile up once the school officially joins the SEC in 2024.
In the present, though, fans can rejoice over the return of Stogner. He has caught passes from multiple stars and figures to be a stabilizing force for a program that desperately needs one.
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