USC HC Lincoln Riley drops warm carousel for wife Caitlin Riley to celebrate her special day

USC coach Lincoln Riley was hired before the 2022 season with big expectations, but he hasn’t quite lived up to them yet. While he works on getting better results on the field, his personal life seems to be going great.

On Sunday, Riley shared several photos to celebrate his wife Caitlin’s birthday. One showed them together at a concert, another at the beach and one sitting courtside at a basketball game. There’s also a photo of Caitlin smiling with their daughters, Sloan and Stella. In every picture, they are all beaming at the camera.

“Happy 40th @caitbriley 🎉We love you!,” he wrote on Instagram.

Caitlin is from Lubbock, Texas and is a fellow Texas Tech alum. Not much is known about her publicly, but it’s clear she’s an important part of Lincoln’s life.

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College football playoff odds for Lincoln Riley’s Trojans

The Trojans are heading into the 2025 season with growing talk about a possible playoff run. After finishing 7-6 last year, and going 4-5 in their first season in the Big Ten, coach Lincoln Riley is looking forward to a better production. However, there are signs that USC could surprise people this year and maybe even reach the CFP.

According to ESPN’s FPI, USC’s defense is expected to be much better this season. The program has a 7.8 rating, which ranks 12th in the country. The Trojans have also brought in a strong 2025 recruiting class and added some important transfers.

CBS Sports analyst Carter Bahns named USC as one of seven “wild card” teams that could make the 12-team playoff in 2025. He gave them +570 odds to get in. Bahns also noted that the Trojans weren’t far off last year, as they lost five games by just one score and still won six games in the Big Ten.

"Believe it or not, that .500 team was only a few plays away from playoff contention," Bahns said on Saturday. "What if the Trojans reverse their one-score game fortunes and go 5-1 in those spots this year instead of the 1-5 they went in 2024? It is obviously not that simple, but the slim margins show just how much variance exists in this team's potential for Year 2 in the Big Ten.”

Lincoln Riley's team will not play Big Ten heavyweights Ohio State or Penn State in the regular season. That makes the team’s schedule a little easier; however, the Trojans will face Oregon and Michigan, which could prove to be difficult.