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Who Is He?

Currently the Offensive Coordinator at TCU. Yes, that TCU, the one in the College Football Playoff. And yes, he’s Lincoln Riley’s little bother. The Lincoln Riley who routinely wins 11 games a season and is routinely in or challenging for the CFB Playoff.

Garrett is only 33 years old and yet in a sense he’s been paying his dues and will absolutely be a head coach in the next year or two unless he for some reason chooses not to be. One thing I find interesting is that he hasn’t been trading on his brother’s success (not something you can say about, ohhh, a lot of employees in college football coaching ranks). He has never been on his brother’s staff, as far as I know, but has been a CFB coach for over a decade.

He started in high school coaching, moved to a little private Lutheran college and then caught on as a GA at East Carolina. This isn’t a guy who was handed the reins by his family.  Garrett Riley then worked at Kansas, App State, SMU and finally TCU. He and Sonny Dykes have that program humming.

Why would he be successful at Purdue?

Given his brother’s meteoric rise, it’s the rare case where you have an unproven coach (in the sense of head coaching experience) but also have a comp that feels legitimate. I realize he’s not (necessarily) Lincoln, but it’s hard to argue with the success that seems to ooze from the Riley family in terms of football acumen. He’s an offensive-minded guy and what have we seen work best at Purdue? Offense.

Why could he flop at Purdue?

The same reasons any unproven, young guy could flop at Purdue. But I’ll tell you, of all the non-head coaches out there, this guy feels like he’s near the top of the “worthwhile gamble” list.

Would he come to Purdue?

He certainly doesn’t need to. He’s going to get a lot of attention thanks to the CFB Playoff and the 12-0 regular season TCU just put up. As I said, he’ll have his pick of jobs I believe in the next couple of years. After that, he’ll be out of Purdue’s reach, so if they want him, now is the time to strike.