Former Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley made big headlines when he left the Sooners for the USC job. There were some jabs, albeit worth taking seriously, that Riley was afraid of making the move into the SEC.

As it turns out, Riley might not have been afraid of the challenge of the SEC, but rather afraid that he didn’t have what he needed to compete in the SEC at the top level.

The Riley Files podcast had RPM Data and Oklahoma Sooners source Kegan Reneau on to talk about the move and Reneau said the Riley had some concerns about the resources available to him.

“If I’m not gonna get all the things that Alabama has, and that Georgia has, and that A&M and Tennessee have, and Florida — if I can’t have that, then we’re behind,” Reneau said. “That perspective of Lincoln is going unnoticed because that, to me, tells me that Oklahoma failed in giving Lincoln the confidence that they had the resources.”

Reneau went on to talk about the things that new coach Brent Venables landed when he got the job, such as a larger coaching staff and wondered if there were some trust issues between Riley and Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione.

One thing that also may have been a factor in Riley’s departure is the lucrative contract that USC gave him.