Lincoln Riley Faces Most Important Hire of Coaching Career

Former USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn officially took the same job at his alma mater, Penn State, the day before the Trojans faced TCU in the Alamo Bowl.

Defensive line coach Eric Henderson took over as the play caller for the bowl game and after a great start in the first quarter, the Trojans defensive problems began to show themselves.

USC Trojans Lincoln Riley Defensive Coordinator TCU Horned Frogs Alamo Bowl D'Anton Lynn Penn State Heisman Pete Kwiatkowski — Aug 30, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley watches from the sidelines against the Missouri State Bears in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Gap discipline on the front seven and their overall physicality and execution as a defense were put into question, once again. The Trojans missed a season-high 16 tackles against the Horned Frogs, according to Pro Football Focus, including two on the final play in overtime that led to TCU running back Jeremy Payne’s 35-yard game-winner.

As the Trojans head into the offseason to prepare for year five of the Lincoln Riley era, the vacancy at defensive coordinator will be the biggest hire of the 42-year-old coach's career.

It’s a hire Riley can’t afford to miss because it will ultimately determine the present and future of the program and his legacy at Southern Cal.

“We've made documented strides the last couple of years, statistically,” Riley said after the Trojans loss to TCU. “But then those that really study the game and watch the way that we've played and the way that we've been able to improve the arrows just pointing straight up. And I think for us right now, the opportunity to make a hire, to continue to make us better, and to go from being a very good defense to being a great defense is the goal.

“We have the personnel to do it. We're on an upward trend. And there's going to be a lot of interest in this job. I mean, this will be a extremely coveted job, and I can already tell by the nature of what my phone's been like the last couple of days.”

It’s true, the Trojans did make strides statistically under Lynn, but that is also because they ranked at the bottom of almost every category under Alex Grinch, during Riley’s first couple of seasons in Los Angeles.

This season, USC held five Power 4 opponents to 17 or fewer points this season, their most since 2016, when they did it four times. But the problem was during their three regular season losses to Illinois, Notre Dame and Oregon, they were completely overmatched. But throughout the season there were glaring issues on defense, even against inferior opponents.

The level of consistency needed to be a really good defense wasn't there. The middle of the defense was a massive problem and something opponents exploited. On the backend, the Trojans were clearly limited

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MORE: One Bright Spot For USC Following Alamo Bowl Loss vs. TCU

USC will always have high powered offenses under Riley and players will win individual awards. The Trojans coach has three Heisman Trophy winners and three Biletnikoff Award winners on his resume, but lackluster defensive performances have prevented him from being among the elite coaches in the sport and competing for national championships.

Southern Cal needs to change the defensive culture drastically and completely change the narrative that has surrounded the program the last decade and a half.

The Trojans have signed blue-chip prospects across the board on the defensive side of the ball in previous cycles and have another impressive group of defensive recruits set to enroll shortly from their No. 1 ranked class in the 2026 cycle.

But it’s one thing to sign elite recruits, player development is another thing and that has to be better at USC. Those recruits have to not only turn into great defensive players at the college level but evolve into NFL bodies.

Short List of Defensive Coordinator Candidates

The first name that comes to mind is former Texas defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who was fired by Texas and replaced by former Florida and South Carolina coach Will Muschamp. Kwiatkowski had been in Austin with Steve Sarkisian since 2021.

The Longhorns defense took a step back in 2025, but Kwiatkowski but the helped lead the Longhorns to back-to-back College Football Playoff semifinals in 2023-24.

He served as the defensive coordinator at Washington, while USC’s athletic director Jen Cohen was the athletic director there and would be a fantastic hire for the Trojans.

Similar to Kwiatkowski, Jimmy Lake comes from the Chris Peterson coaching tree, the former longtime Washington and Boise State coach. Lake spent several years as the Washington defensive coordinator in the 2010s before Peterson named his successor in the early 2000s. He is currently a senior defensive assistant for the Los Angeles Rams.

“I think each year, as this has gone on, when we've had an opportunity to go make it higher, it's gotten easier each year, and the pools have gotten bigger, " Riley said. "Our ability to go get great people to bring into our program to help make us better has just gotten higher and higher, and I can already tell that with this will be a fun process to go through.

“I definitely don't want to press reset. I think we've made a lot of improvement, and we've got a hell of a defensive staff in there, and their ability to rally on short notice tonight, I think was evident but I'm excited about the process."

Riley will do an extensive search and obvious commit a ton of resources to hiring the right coach. But the Trojans do need to make a hire as soon as possible with the transfer portal officially opening on Friday, Jan. 2.

Short List of Defensive Coordinator Candidates

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