Lincoln Riley is getting PAID, and, tax returns first reported by the L.A. Times show Riley has been getting PAID at USC.
Riley was credited with $11.5 million in income for the 2023 year, per USC's 2024 federal tax return that was obtained by the L.A. Times.
The government documents revealed that Riley, in his second year atop the Trojans football program, made $10.2 million in base salary compensation in 2023, a figure on its own that vaulted Riley securely into the top-5 annual college football coaching salaries.
He also was reported to have earned $100,000 in bonus compensation that year; USC closed out a disappointing 2023 season with a resounding, 42-28 Holiday Bowl win against Louisville. Coaching contracts routinely carry bonus clauses for postseason appearances and victories, which could have been the source of Riley's $100,000 extra payment.
Ryan Kartje's report also noted that USC sunk considerable dead money into the contracts of fired former top-level USC athletics employees. Ex-head coach Clay Helton, by then having taken over at Georgia Southern, was paid some $9 million combined in 2022-23 due to buyout obligations.
Similarly, USC paid to hire away current athletics director Jennifer Cohen from her post atop the University of Washington's athletics department, a seven-figure sum on USC's taxes.
But those investments haven't stymied USC's investments into athletics. Earlier this year, USC plucked away football general manager Chad Bowden from Notre Dame with what numerous sources told FootballScoop was a four-year deal with more than $1 million annually.
The Trojans also made notable staffing hires to Riley's revamped charges, even bringing aboard longtime NFL veteran assistant coach Rob Ryan and empowering Bowden to assemble a personnel staff that snagged key hires from Big Ten foes Illinois and Wisconsin, as well as also bringing a former top assistant to Bowden at Notre Dame out to L.A.
USC opens its fourth season under Riley Aug. 30 against Missouri State and hosts the Helton Bowl a week later when Clay Helton's Georgia Southern program comes to the Coliseum. The Trojans open Big Ten play on the road Sept. 13 at Purdue.