Does Lincoln Riley’s brother coach football? Exploring the Riley family's involvement in college football

How would it feel to be Lincoln Riley’s brother? As a college football tragic, this question may have popped up in your mind.

Riley is one of college football’s youngest coaches. He has a reputation for grinding it out and getting results already, akin to many of the senior HCs out there.

There’s this thing about football, it has a tendency to run in families. Several cases of father and son, siblings, and other relatives playing the game have been recorded at both the collegiate level and the NFL.

The USC head coach does have a younger brother. But what connection does he have with football? Let’s find out.

Does Lincoln Riley’s brother coach football?

Yes, Lincoln Riley's brother does coach football. Garrett Riley is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Clemson Tigers football. Garrett resumed the role at Clemson in Jan. 2023, following a brief spell at TCU. He had also been employed at SMU prior to his time at TCU.

Garrett began his football coaching career before his brother became the high-profile football coach that he is today. He attended Texas Tech University, following in his older sibling's footsteps.

His journey into football coaching began at the University. His career took off as a quarterbacks coach and passing game assistant at Roosevelt High School in Lubbock, Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech in 2012 and took up an appointment as the running backs coach at Augustana College in Illinois. He was there for just a year before moving on to East Carolina, where he resumed as a graduate assistant.

He was promoted to outside wide receivers coach after two seasons, but he didn’t remain there for long. He joined the Kansas Jayhawks football coaching staff in 2016 as an offensive analyst. He was promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2017, and proceeded to coach the tight ends and fullbacks in the 2018 season.

His next stop after Kansas was Appalachian State, where he served as the running backs coach before moving to SMU. If anything, Garrett’s career progression has shown that being Lincoln Riley’s brother did not make it easy for him. Just like Lincoln himself, Garrett is gradually working his way up the coaching ladder.

If he continues to rise in this fashion, we may soon see the two brothers face off as opposing head coaches in a college football game someday.