Gary Patterson Bringing Immediate Impact to USC's Defense

The USC Trojans welcomed newly hired defensive coordinator Gary Patterson with an official introductory press conference on Wednesday.

Patterson shared his journey as a head coach, his thoughts on NIL as well as insight to future practices and film sessions for his players.

What Patterson Has Learned Four Years Removed From Coaching:

“Well, number one, when I started at TCU, we didn't have any of this new building that's going up and all the rest of it. If I could step back and if you ever did it again, I don't want to be the bad cop. I kind of had to become to we had to play with more with less, and so you had to grow guys up. You had to make them tough if you didn't have the players. It's one of the things that they'll get from me here, all those things, all those things that you talk about that, hey, you have to do it. You got to play hard. You got to do all of it."

"You know, it was a lot of fun for me. The first time really being back in charge and teaching kids this morning was really cool for me, you know, and I had over 840 guys come through TCU. And so what you got to understand is uh I've been in this business for a long time.”

“I grew up in a little town of 125 people. And so if you know much about small town people, you know they're about people. They like to say hello. They like to go about it. And so to get a chance to be back around young coaches, around young players, help them with their lives, help them move forward, and you know, coaches in the profession getting back in it, Then I have coaches that have been loyal to me that have an opportunity to be able to help them also. So it's a it's a great opportunity for me. You know, again, my point is just try to make as USC better. So, it's go from there.”

Pattersons' Prior Coaching History In California:

USC Trojans Defensive Coordinator Lincoln Riley Chad Bowden TCU Southern California 4-2-5 Defense Head Coach Big Ten CFP — Jul 14, 2021; Arlington, TX, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson speaks to the media during Big 12 media days at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

“Well, yeah. So, I spent time at UC Davis, Cal Lutheran, Sonoma State, they had Larry Allen, we recruited him, there's just a lot of good athletes in the state. To be able corral them, get them ready to go, do the things we do, I think is a big thing. It was my 20s when I was here, and so I have a lot of coaches, a lot of former players that are all here that have reached out that live down here that work. That's a fun thing.

"Really to be honest with you, just getting back in the game has been (a) really cool thing, because there's a lot of people that know me, (and) the biggest thing they said was ‘You getting back to the game is going to make the game better,’ which is an ultimate compliment to me.”

“I’ve always been one that wanted to make sure we did the right things as a whole entire body of college football. That's why I was on a lot of committees and I was the president of the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) for a year and so trying just to make a difference."

"I believe it's changed kids' lives, and that's the thing, that a lot of these kids whether it was Sonoma State, UC Davis, or the Naval Academy on the other coast, to just have kids, and they're now grown, I say kids because it's 25 years ago, they're now in their 40s. If you ever told me that when somebody said, ‘Well, you're at TCU for 25 years,’ I said, 'Yeah, I went at 37 and I ended at 62.' And let me tell you, that's a little bit of a stint. So, but it is what it is.”

Being A Talented Evaluator and What Future Film Sessions Will Look Like:

“Well, number one, recruiting. We got a guy back in the back of the room, Chad (Bowden), him and coach do a lot of that stuff. So, you know, one of the good parts about being a coordinator, anything I really don't want to answer, I'm just going to say that's coach Riley’s question."

"Just so you guys know, I've been waiting 20 something years to be able to say that. it's too short yet. You know, you got to be careful with kids that you're around and you got to see them play, be around, do things. And you know, I'm a big eye and personality guy. And that was one of the things that was very impressive with a lot of our kids today that I watched is there's a lot of kids that want to win. You know, they're young enough that maybe they don't know quite yet how to do that. That's our job.”

“And so, you know, every day of bringing them all together, putting them in a situation where we can be successful is going to be important. And you know, with coach's leadership of understanding that it's going to take both sides of the football plus special teams."

"You got coach Ekeler that came in from Nebraska, that took a Nebraska group from the 120s to where they were in the top 10 in the country in special teams. I think was a great move on coach's part. He's also going to be one of my linebacker coaches and I won't have to be in charge of his enthusiasm. He's definitely the Energizer Bunny, I’m going to tell you right now, he can go. So we don't need to give him any Red Bull or anything else to get him started and going, doing the things he needs to do.”

Finding Balance Between Music and Football:

"Well, let me just say this. Even if I had a window, I don't have a window anymore. And now that I'm back to being hoarse, I have less of a window. But, I started young. In Kansas, they have wedding dances. So, you have a wedding, you have a reception at night, you have a 4-hour dance. So, we play, I can make 150 bucks back in the 80s to do those kind of things. It was cool. So for me, I got into music. It kind of was my release."

"You can argue what people want to discuss, but they can't argue with a song. Like one of them that's at the end on Spotify, it's called 'The Day I Walk Away' is when we stepped down from TCU, and it was kind of one of those things where it was started to be written like a breakup. But, you know, because 25 years is a long time, but it's love a lot of those people.”

USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson landed on Friday he started started watching film and since then he’s been watching film from 7am till 8 o’clock at night 😳✌️ pic.twitter.com/Kt8xdqoBY8
— Trojan Football ✌️ ᶠᵃⁿ (@TrojanFBx) January 29, 2026

“Greatness happens somewhere in time where dreams and hard work meet. For me coming from that small town, I knew how to work, I didn't know how to dream because you didn't think that you ever got out of it. So for me, I can promise you, my parents they're really sitting in a situation smiling down because you want to do something that made them proud."

"So I think it's a positive thing and whenever you can be found great people like here, and when I say that it's not a cliché I mean really starting with Jen (Cohen), Chad, we had a call along with coach Riley, meeting the staff, I mean you know you when you've been in the business for as long as I've been you know a lot of people and so there's a lot of people that have been through here.”

“Today I just got off the phone right before we came over (with) Jeff McInerney, that was special teams coordinator here at USC for a while, my dad went back with coach (John) McKay. I mean, when you have players that are almost 50 years old, you've been around a while. Promise you, when you step on the field, I will promise you I won't look like I'm that old. That's what I was told by a couple of my safeties this morning. It's like, ‘I don't know, coach. I think you're lying to somebody.’ “

How Kids Take Coaching:

"When I was at Texas and I was at Baylor, I didn't think so. I thought the great ones wanted to be told, the good ones wanted to be coached, and the bad ones, I mean, we got to change them."

"So to be honest with you, it actually helps me with the history because the kids nowadays with all the media, they can go back and search through everything and they know I had Jason Verrett (he) was a corner that played for the Chargers and he came from Santa Rosa Junior College. He's 155 pounds and he became a two-time all-American. Or I take a Jerry Hughes and turn him from a running back into a defensive man. The fortunate thing is at SC, we don't have to do that as much."

"So for me, like I said earlier, the passion for kids, through the years they all grow up and the cool thing is watching them, not just if they played in the NFL, but they became CEO of their own companies and they use when they they they put down the things that you said and that's when they run their companies and do things."

"Winning is not a sometimes thing. I don't care if it's football or whatever it is in life, winning is not a sometimes thing. when you wake up in the morning, especially in the town that I came from, you're going to get up and you better start charging. I think of my 27 kids in my graduating class, I think only two of us left. Everybody else farmed and ranched and did all of it. One is a rowing mechanic in South Korea and myself. And so at the end of the day, you know, that's just what that's like I said, no, you didn't learn how to dream. But they're all good people. They were all smart."

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"I had two uncles. One, Harold Patterson that played in the Canadian Hall of Fame. He's in the Canadian Hall of Fame. Youngest player. He's in the Kansas Hall of Fame. And then Ray Patterson, that actually played with Bill Parcels at Witchita State."

"I came from a family, my dad of eight, 28 grandkids. So 28 cousins and so we always had a lot of people around us. So but it's that's why I like people whether it's my own grandkids, my own sons or all the guys that you coached. You have to have an appreciation for what they did for you because that's why you kept your job. And I think if there's anything I learned out of all of it is I can talk to kids a little bit different now than I could 25 years ago because, as they say nowadays, I have a little bit better rizz."

NIL And The Evolution Of College Football:

“My job is defense. So I don't deal with NIL. I don't deal in all those different things. You know, one of the misconceptions, I raised almost a million dollars at TCU before the year that I stepped away. You know, I made a statement about they said I said I didn't like it. It's not what I said. I said I didn't think it was going to be good for college football. And I don’t, I think though because I was on a lot of meetings with the NCAA and I was the president of the AFCA, but also we'd been telling the NCAA and everybody else for 15 years that we had to start closing the gap.”

“I was seeing too much dirt through the floor more than I ever had when I went to home visits. So we are where we're at. And you know, I'll tell you about coaches. Coaches are just one of those things. You set up the rules and then we're going to change. I mean, I've been in this business for a long time and it's not going to be the first coach that said, ‘We'll never be able to do that.’ I think one of the things I would tell you is that USC's done a great job of adapting, or they wouldn't have had the number one recruiting class in the nation. So, I'd say they did a great job of doing that.”

Growth As a Head Coach And How it Will Play into leading the defense:

“Well, patience. I think that's the biggest thing. Um, again, I go back to the question about have kids changed? I don't think so. Down deep, I think they if they know that you care about them. They always knew as a coordinator, head coach that you had their back and I think that's the one thing that you have to know. If you do that, it doesn't matter."

"You know, I've had calls from NFL guys and non-NFL guys and people around the country, just players that I coached at the Naval Academy, that were worked at the Pentagon. I mean, you name it, they've been everywhere. And that the key to it is is they knew as I told them though there was one I had one I had one safety at the Naval Academy that I didn't ever raise my voice to because I figured he'd do recon on me and I'd see some red dot on the door when I was walking in the house. So I won't mention his name so we won't give him away.”

“It's a great profession. It's interesting that now all we talk about is NIL. All we did talk about was concussions, okay? And all of a sudden now they have money and now we don't talk about concussions. We don't hear that anymore. We don't hear about graduation rates and APR, okay? Well, to coaches that really care in the business, all those things are still important."

"They're still important that we take care of our kids, we get them degrees, we help them start in life. Those are the kind of things that I think uh that people when they look at coaches because everybody's the mighty dollar has taken precedent. But behind the scenes, there's just a lot of guys in this business that really care that really care about what happens to kids. That's why we got into it. That's what I got into it for. I promise you, it wasn't because I think my first check was $257 a month and $100 of it went to rent."

"So, we lifted late at night because then we drank water and we were tired and I didn't worry about eating because we weren't going to make it through the month. So, at the end of the day, a lot of us have done a lot of things. There's a lot of stories in coaches and a lot of other professions of people that that's what they did it for.”