Southern Cal coach Lincoln Riley has missed practice on back-to-back days, and his coaching in the Trojans’ road game at Cal this weekend is in doubt.
A spokesperson for the University said Tuesday that Riley was under doctor’s orders, and was recovering, and said the head coach’s status is day-to-day.
A story in the Los Angeles Times about Riley’s status on Wednesday said that a spokesperson for USC wouldn’t comment on whether Riley’s sickness was COVID-19 (Lincoln Riley misses consecutive USC practices with illness.)
Riley, who guided Oklahoma to a berth in the College Football Playoff and has coached three Heisman Trophy winners (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, and Caleb Williams), has an “undisclosed illness,” at least that’s what media outlets are having to say – and correctly. It’s really none of anyone’s business what illness Riley has, only whether or not he’s on the sidelines.
This week, receivers coach Dennis Simmons is acting head coach, and offensive analyst Kliff Kingsbury, the former Arizona Cardinals and Texas Tech coach, has been moved up to an active assistant coaching role.
Simmons referred to the USC-Cal game as “an objective” in a comment to the L.A. Times.
“It’s not like he’s gone forever,” Simmons said. “It’s just one of those deals where we’ve got an objective which is going to take place this Saturday afternoon at 1 o’clock. So that’s our main focus and what we’re looking forward to getting out [and] doing. So … he’s set a great plan together, and we’re just following it until he returns.”
The Trojans (6-2) have lost back-to-back games (at Notre Dame and at home to Utah), but have only the one Pac-12 loss, and are in the conference standings. USC is No. 24 in the AP poll and No. 22 in the coaches, but the real rankings – the College Football Playoff, done by the CFP committee – are released Oct. 31.
