Riley-USC: A Contact Sport

The clouds obscuring USC’s vacant coaching spot cleared--if only slightly--on Wednesday when San Diego Charger Coach Mike Riley acknowledged he has spoken to school officials about the job.

Riley, considered a leading candidate, characterized the talks as preliminary.

“The report was yesterday that I was going to accept the job and had been offered the job,” he said after Charger practice. “None of that has happened. That is all speculation.”

While Riley was vague about his contact with USC, sources said the school has yet to discuss salary with him and, contrary to a published report, Athletic Director Mike Garrett has not met with board members about the situation.

It also remained unclear if Charger management would release Riley from the final three years of his $750,000-a-year contract.

In the meantime, sources said, USC wants to interview one or more additional candidates before making an offer.

Two prospects--former NFL coach Pete Carroll and Colorado State Coach Sonny Lubick--have been linked to the job.

Carroll, reportedly meeting with Garrett this week, seems an unlikely choice. Going 33-31 over four seasons with the New England Patriots and New York Jets, he does not fit Garrett’s stated preference for a coach with college experience.

Lubick, on the other hand, is a veteran of the college game who molded Colorado State into a nationally known program. The Rams are 66-29 during his tenure and are headed for the Liberty Bowl, their fifth bowl game in eight seasons.

As a former Stanford assistant, Lubick knows the Pacific 10 Conference. In a recent interview, he fondly recalled coaching against the Trojans and former quarterback Rodney Peete at the Coliseum.

The only downside would seem to be his age: At 63, he would not be expected to hold the USC job for 10 or 15 years.

Riley, meanwhile, is relatively young at 47 and has experience that ranges from the Canadian Football League to Oregon State to the NFL.

Earlier in the week, he and the team denied any contact with USC. On Wednesday, however, he switched directions.

Though Riley did not identify the USC officials he spoke with, sources said one was Garrett. The athletic director could not be reached for comment.

When asked about where he wanted to be next season, Riley seemed to vacillate.

First, he talked about the Chargers, saying “I love this team. I like this job.”

Then he spoke of USC, where he was an assistant in the mid-1990s. “I loved ‘SC. I grew up a Pac-10 gym rat and saw all the games. . . . It was a privilege to get to go there and coach.”

There is another factor: With the Chargers at 1-12, his job is in jeopardy. But if the Chargers guaranteed him another season, would he prefer to stay?

“I want to coach this team,” he said, “and I want to feel good about it.”

The wild card in all this speculation remains Charger President Dean Spanos, who can keep Riley in San Diego or agree to let him go.

Spanos has previously said he will not address the issue until after the NFL season. His reluctance might have something to do with the fact that a previous Charger interim coach, June Jones, unexpectedly left to coach Hawaii in December 1998.

Out of town on family business, Spanos was unavailable for comment. But Riley will have the opportunity to speak with him when he rejoins the team in Baltimore on Friday.

“[Riley] has a contract,” spokesman Bill Johnston said, repeating the team’s stance. “He’s our coach. We expect him to be our coach.”

Though Charger officials expressed surprise that their coach had been contacted by USC without their knowledge, Riley did not see any harm in informal discussions.

“When you get a phone call and go forward, or talk to people, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” he said.

Times staff writer Tony Perry contributed to this article.

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Coaching Classified

Of the 20 Division I-A schools that had to fill football coaching positions, six have yet to do so:

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School Former Coach GEORGIA Jim Donnan NORTH CAROLINA Carl Torbush SAN JOSE STATE Dave Baldwin TEXAS CHRISTIAN Dennis Franchione USC Paul Hackett WAKE FOREST Jim Caldwell

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HIRED: BYU and Oklahoma State officially fill vacancies. D5.