Lincoln Riley Faces Backlash After Brent Venables' Comments About Team GPA

In 2021, current USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley stunned the college football world when he decided to leave his post as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

He led the program to three College Football Playoff appearances and four Big 12 championships after being hand-selected as a successor by program legend Bob Stoops.

As a result, the Sooners made it clear they wanted to hire someone who felt a sense of loyalty to the program, bringing in Brent Venables, an assistant at Oklahoma for 13 years before taking the Clemson Tigers' defensive coordinator role.

Although Venables is still searching for consistency in Norman, as he's gone 22-17 with three bowl losses, he did reveal on Tuesday that his staff has completely revitalized what was a rotten culture.

Lincoln Riley Facing Backlash After Brent Venables Exposes Team's GPA, Culture Problems

When speaking to the media, Venables revealed that the program had "a lot to work through" when he took over, with some of the larger problems he faced being:

• 2.2 Team GPA
• Failed Drug Tests
• Lacking Synergy

"As a football program, we had a lot of issues, you know that first year," Venables said. "Guys weren't going to class. We had a 2.2 team GPA and a lot of guys who didn't pass drug tests. A lot. So what comes with that? Lack of motivation, lack of synergy. ... Lack of ambition. And there were some broken spirits too."

That was a revelation that left fans appalled with Riley and how he left the program.

"Well… Tells us everything we ever needed to know about Lincoln Riley. As if we didn't know already, based on the way he left," wrote one fan.

"Is this what LR left us with?" said a second.

"Thanks Lincoln," said a third.

"Lol you have to question the Athletic dept leadership as a whole if this was going on. If LR was covering this up, it was to win football games which is signed off by the AD and staff," suggested another.

"Lincoln’s culture was toxic," said another user.

"Lincoln Riley was a FRAUD," yet another user said.