Bruce Feldman: Lincoln Riley turned down Houston

...cause he wants to be a $1.8M WILD BAW and call plays for LSU

Then why would he even accept interviews?

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Then why would he even accept interviews?

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Wanted interview experience

His situation as OC next year is much better than taking over a smaller program, he'll be much more of a hot commodity next year. With Mayfield coming back, no reason for him to take a risk yet. Plus he's about to get a nice raise, close to double his current salary.

There are rumors that UH was demanding a huge buyout.

That seemed to be the snag with Kiffin at first as well.

I can see why he wouldn't want to get tied to that job, might as well stay on at OU with a Heisman contender at QB until a bigger job comes calling, or one without such a buyout

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You don't have to go to some small shitty school to prove yourself.

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no, you don't HAVE to, but it's the way it's usually done. Big schools that hire first-time head coaches are taking a big risk. Smaller schools can afford to do it, but elite schools take a huge risk. Much better to hire a HC from a smaller school that has shown he can succeed as a HC. Of course it doesn't guarantee success, but it's valuable information to have.

Saban started at Toledo
Meyer started at Bowling Green
Harbaugh started at Univ of San Diego

Aranda has a very HC friendly contract while making top dollar. Riley might like the same deal.

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Then why would he even accept interviews?

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It's called leverage for getting a pay raise. Some people who like their current job sometimes interview for other jobs and take the offer back to their boss for negotiations.