On Tuesday, Lincoln Riley and USC revoked reporter Luca Evans’ credentials for two weeks after Evans wrote a story about USC freshman running back Quentin Joyner that Riley seemingly took issue with.
College football reporters have blasted Riley and the program for making the decision.
Wednesday morning, however, UCLA coach Chip Kelly spoke about the situation, as well.
This morning, #UCLA head coach Chip Kelly was asked about the situation at USC, with Lincoln Riley issuing a 2-week suspension to SCNG reporter Luca Evans for what the program considered violations of its media policy: pic.twitter.com/OKcJrQ1pof
— Tracy McDannald 📎 (@Tracy_McDannald) September 20, 2023
“Can someone do that?” Kelly asked. “I’ve never heard of that before and I’m never one to comment on someone else’s policies. I didn’t even know you could do that — I don’t even think we have policies on that.”
Kelly has never been known as a coach who is particularly fond of the media, dating back to his time at Oregon, but clearly even he has never considered having a reporter banned for being critical of the team.
Riley took issue with Evans printing something in his story that a player said outside of media availability. This is far from the first time Riley has taken issue with the media, as he canceled media access for a full week in his last season at Oklahoma after the university’s student newspaper reported on a quarterback change involving then-Sooners Caleb Williams and Spencer Rattler.
USC claimed printing the quote was a violation of the program’s media policies.
