Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley is an undeniable hypocrite
The wisdom of certain NCAA transfer rules aside, Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley is absolutely a hypocrite.
Since taking over for Bob Stoops as head coach at Oklahoma, Lincoln Riley has had Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts as his quarterback. What do they all have in common? They were transfers. The circumstances were different for all three, but the Sooners benefited from someone being able to transfer. In Hurts’ case, he was immediately eligible as a grad transfer. Stoops landed Mayfield from Texas Tech, a Big 12 school, though he did sit out a year.
The mechanics of NCAA transfer rules have begun to resemble allowing free agency, which is not a great development. But if a player sees a better opportunity to play elsewhere after sitting out a year and/or can get a waiver to be eligible immediately, let’s not pretend the student part of “student-athlete” is especially important.
With Spencer Rattler entrenched as the Sooners’ starting quarterback, Chandler Morris decided to transfer to TCU back in January. But he has yet to be released by Oklahoma, as Riley leans into the rules about intra-conference transfers.
With a h/t to CBS Sports, here are Riley’s quotes on the matter.
“This particular situation for us is about something that we believe in. Myself, the leadership here at OU, we think it's unhealthy for college football to encourage intra-conference transfers," he said in response to a question from Jason Kersey of The Athletic. "That doesn't mean we are against transfers to any other institutions they want. That rule obviously has been changed, and I think it was a good rule to change. And now players have the ability and freedom as they should to be able to go to any school they want. But I do think the intraconference can complicate things. Coaches understand the big picture, and that's going to bring along a lot of negatives that we don't want in this game. That's been something we've been adamantly opposed to for a long time."
If it feels like Riley and the Sooners have been here before regarding someone transferring to another Big 12 school, you’re right. Two years ago quarterback Austin Kendall headed to West Virginia as a grad transfer, and Riley was adamantly against him being immediately eligible. Oklahoma eventually relented, if only to avoid a PR nightmare, and gave Kendall his release.
Let’s say Shane Buechele wanted to transfer from Texas to Oklahoma after Sam Ehlinger usurped him on the depth chart. That’s a stretch to give as an example, based on timing, Hurts’ transfer decision in 2019 etc., but the broad point stands. Riley would’ve welcomed Buechele or someone like him from another Big 12 school with open arms, forgetting about his issue with intra-conference transfers in a heart beat.
If someone similar were available going forward Riley would want that quarterback granted his release from a Big 12 rival right away. And, if the circumstance allowed it, immediately eligible.
It’s hard to call Riley a hypocrite based solely on the current situation with Morris. But he is absolutely a hypocrite when it comes to his hard stance on intra-conference transfers. If such a transfer would benefit him, he’d be on the other side of the fence. In that respect Riley is not unique among college coaches, but his attempt to cite how intra-conference transfers can “complicate things” is a thin facade.