Despite a disappointing season on the gridiron in 2024, Lincoln Riley was one of the highest-paid figures in college sports.
According to USC’s latest federal tax returns revealed by the LA Times, the university paid Riley nearly $11.8 million in total compensation during the 2024 fiscal year.
That staggering number came on the heels of a lackluster 7-6 campaign in 2024, which has turned out to be the worst single-season record of Riley’s head coaching career.
Yet, his contract structure ensures he is compensated among the coaching elite. The $11.8 million total package includes a $100,000 bonus and a massive $10.4 million base salary. To put that into perspective, Riley's base pay that year is believed to trail only three other college football coaches that season: Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.
All three of those colleagues have brought national titles back to their campus.
Riley’s 2024 pay represents a slight bump from the previous year, when USC paid him just over $11.5 million. His base salary grew by $145,143 between the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. While that is a substantial raise for any normal profession, it was actually a smaller yearly increase than the $168,000 bump he received after his debut season with the Trojans in 2022.
After an impressive 11-3 debut season with the Trojans, Riley has led the team to finishes of 8-5 in 2023, 7-6 in 2024, and a 9-4 season last fall where they finished ranked among the top 25 teams in college football in both the AP and Coaches polls for the second time in four seasons under Riley.
Fortunately for USC's accounting department, the school only had to cut a check for one football coach in 2024. Over the previous two years, the university shelled out a combined $9 million to former coach Clay Helton as part of his buyout following his dismissal.
Football wasn't the only sport costing USC a premium. The LA Times also shared details around a heavy investment on the hardwood. After men's basketball coach Andy Enfield left for SMU, USC spent more than $6.1 million in 2024 to pry Eric Musselman away from Arkansas. A cool million of that total went directly to Arkansas to buy out Musselman's contract, leaving him with roughly $5.1 million in total salary and benefits.
Similarly to the football program, the basketball investment didn't yield immediate dividends; Musselman's squad finished a disappointing 17-18 during their inaugural run in the Big Ten.
Riley will enter the 2025 campaign 35-18 overall with the Trojans after going a remarkable 55-10 in his five seasons at Oklahoma where he brought the Sooners four-straight Big 12 titles and finished among the top 7 in the country four years in a row as well.
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