USC's Lincoln Riley on Dave Nichol: 'Owe everything to the guy'

It was Nichol who gave him his shot as a walk-on quarterback at Texas Tech and taught him the intricacies of the Air Raid offense. When Riley hung up his cleats to be a student assistant with the Red Raiders, it was Nichol who showed him the ropes, who answered his incessant questions, who taught him all that ithired as USC’s coach in November“Without him I really didn’t have any other ins into this business, and this business is hard to get into,” Riley said.

For Riley, Nichol was the one who first opened the door to a future in coaching. Yet no one had paved a similar path for Nichol. He fought his way through the ranks, working as a graduate assistant from one stop to the next, often for little to no pay. As an assistant at Cisco College, he painted lines on the football field and served as a pseudo-handyman, completing whatever minor repairs came up.

“I think a lot of people would have given up because those are hard years when you’re a GA,” Riley said. “You’re not making any money, you’re doing all kinds of different jobs and all kinds of different hours. And he knew what he wanted to do, and he told me the other day as we were talking that if he had it all over, he’d do it exactly the same way.”

He owes everything to the University of Oklahoma and Bob Stoops. They handed him control of a top tier program. He was calling plays at East Carolina. It was OU that invested in him, propped him up and made him look way better than he is.

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Lincoln Riley credits late USC assistant Dave Nichol for his careerNichol, who died Friday at 45, was an early teacher for Riley during his time as a walk-on QB and student coach at Texas Tech
Source: ladailynews - 🏆 332. / 59 Read more »

USC RB Travis Dye credits family and Lincoln Riley for homecomingThe former Norco High standout and his fiancée agonized before he chose to play for the Trojans and their new coach over staying at Oregon or heading to the NFL
Source: ladailynews - 🏆 332. / 59 Read more »

USC football assistant coach, Dave Nichol, passes away at 45Nichol was hired to be the Trojans' inside wide receivers coach and associate head coach for offense. He spent the previous two seasons with Mississippi State. ✝️😲📖😞
Source: CBSLA - 🏆 552. / 51 Read more »

Dave Nichol, USC assistant football coach, dead at 45USC assistant football coach Dave Nichol died Friday, less than a week after it was announced that he was stepping away from the team to focus on a medical matter. My classmates and I are very saddened at Dave Nichol’s passing. Jesuit Dallas class of ‘95. Sincere condolences to his family. Absent from the body, present with the Lord.
Source: nypost - 🏆 91. / 67 Read more »

Dave Nichol, USC inside wide receivers coach, dies at 45USC inside wide receivers coach Dave Nichol, who joined the team in December as part of Lincoln Riley's staff, has died. He was battling cancer. Was it another white male suicide? Why doesn't the media cover that awful epidemic? Don't want to know why? Don't care?
Source: latimes - 🏆 11. / 82 Read more »

USC Assistant Dave Nichol Dies at 45Dave Nichol, who was hired this past December to be Lincoln Riley’s inside receivers coach at USC, died on Friday mccauley713 rip 🙏🏾🆙
Source: SInow - 🏆 273. / 63 Read more »