USC Targeting Two-Time Coach of the Year As Defensive Coordinator Under Lincoln Riley

Gary Patterson could be back in the fold with a high-level coordinator job with the Trojans.

Former TCU head coach Gary Patterson has landed a coordinator job with USC. | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

USC is targeting former TCU head coach Gary Patterson to become the school’s new defensive coordinator under Lincoln Riley, according to a report from ESPN's Pete Thamel. Thamel noted that a deal is expected to come together “in the near future.”

Patterson is set to replace D’Anton Lynn, who left this offseason to become Matt Campbell’s defensive coordinator on his first staff at Penn State.

Patterson, a two-time Coach of the Year at TCU, spent 22 years as the head coach of the Horned Frogs, where he went 181–79 until he was fired eight games into the 2021 season. Patterson has since served as a special assistant to the head coach at Texas under Steve Sarkisian in ’22 and as a consultant to Dave Aranda at Baylor in ’24.

This is Patterson’s first defensive coordinator job since 1998 to 2000 at TCU, where he was the DC before taking over as the school’s head coach.

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