Oklahoma Sooners Football: Lincoln Riley Given Raise, Extension Through 2019

The OU Board of Regents signed Oklahoma Sooners offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley to a three-year contract extension on Thursday in a deal that keeps Riley signed through the 2019 season.

Riley will make $1.3 million per year under the new deal, an unprecedented figure for a Sooners assistant.

Riley has been nothing short of excellent in his two seasons at Oklahoma, re-introducing a devastating Air Raid attack while striking a balance with OU’s talented running backs. The result last season was 554.8 yards per game, good for second in the FBS, and a third-ranked scoring offense with 43.9 ppg.

Riley has no doubt been assisted by an amazing crop of skill-position players, but has also infused an old-school swagger and youthful energy into a Sooners offense that really needed it. The 2017 recruiting class shows he’s also effective at getting talent to campus.

Riley’s extension certainly doesn’t guarantee his long-term future in Norman. $1.3 million is a ton of money, but it’s only a third — or less — of what Riley could pull as a big-time head coach. Still, Sooners fans who want Riley to be OU’s “coach in waiting” can be cheered by this news, which shows if nothing else that the administration values Riley as much as we do.

But hey, OU’s Twitter account seems pretty optimistic about Riley’s Oklahoma future, so that’s something.