In college athletics, you can’t only focus on building a roster for the season immediately in front of you. Simultaneously you must construct the next roster, and the one after that, through recruiting. It’s a 24-hour job in a way that professional sports simply is not.

So not long after the news of USC’s Big Ten move broke, Riley began having conversations with his coaching staff about how the transition, even two years in the future, impacts recruiting.

USC’s footprint has always been substantial, branching up the West Coast to Washington and across the South to Florida. But frequent road trips to the Midwest markets of the Big Ten could provide new opportunities, Riley said.

The conference switch also provides a reason for Riley and his staff to reconsider the types of players they recruit as they build a roster that can compete with the more-physical Big Ten teams.

“You look at it from two perspectives,” Riley said. “Number one is what do we believe the best version of USC football is, what are our ideal players that best fit our schemes and systems. Also, you look at it relative to the competition and the people that you’re going to play year in and year out.”

The impact on recruiting wasn’t far from the minds of the future Pac-10 figureheads, either.

Commissioner George Kliavkoff theorized that the recruiting impact for USC and UCLA would be a net neutral. Some recruits would jump at the opportunity to play in the Big Ten, others would rather not deal with the travel involved with the mostly Midwest-based conference.

As for other sports, though, Kliavkoff was more optimistic about the future of the Pac-12.

“From the feedback I’ve gotten from decisions that recruits have already made and recruits have said to coaches of the 10 remaining schools,” the commissioner said, “actually we think the 10 remaining schools are going to significantly benefit in recruiting from UCLA and USC’s decision in every sport other than football.”

But as realignment the past decade has shown, football is where the bread is buttered. And the Pac-12 will try to maintain a footprint in Los Angeles without the two L.A. schools, whether it means neutral-site games in the city or expansion targets within the Southern California footprint (cough, San Diego State, cough).

Those are future considerations for after the Trojans and Bruins leave in 2024. Pac-12 coaches are more consumed with the present realities of talking with Southern California recruits about the new status quo.

“It’s certainly a conversation,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “I could certainly see people using (the Power Two conference perception in recruiting). But that doesn’t mean it’s going to be effective, right? Again, as I said, Oregon is a brand that can stand alone.”

Some Pac-12 coaches will attempt to turn the USC and UCLA move to the Big Ten into an advantage.

“When parents are making decisions on wanting to watch their children play, they don’t have to get on a plane and fly to Newark, fly to Iowa, fly to Ann Arbor,” Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch said. “They get to get in a car, drive five and a half hours, and next thing you know they’re at Arizona. They can be able to watch their sons play right here on the West Coast.”

But in his conversations with recruits, Riley has found a sense of excitement about the opportunity to play at USC and compete in the Big Ten.

“You think about some of the epic matchups that have happened in the Rose Bowl. Now you’re going to have several of those happening each year,” Riley said. “The financial impact is significant. The ability to take that and put it back into facilities, to put it back into services for your players, to mental health, to development, to anything that’s going to benefit the program.

“USC has always been a national brand, but it opens up with a recruiting base that’s maybe different than ever before in the school’s history.”