USC Trojans' Chad Bowden Biggest Hire Of College Football Offseason?

USC Trojans general manager Chad Bowden has only been in Los Angeles for a month, but his hiring has quickly proven to be a program-altering move that has the Lincoln Riley era headed in the right direction.

College football has changed over the past couple of seasons with NIL, the transfer portal and now revenue sharing being at the forefront of the sport in recruiting and roster retention. The need for an NFL-style front office has become essential for a successful program and the Trojans have assembled a staff with Bowden at the head of the table that can rival any in the country.

Oct 12, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley during a time out against the Penn State Nittany Lions in the first half at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Zaire Turner served as Notre Dame’s director of player personnel for the past three seasons with Bowden and will hold the title of assistant AD of recruiting operations at USC. Turner was one of the Irish’s most significant off-field staffers. Dre Brown left Illinois, his alma mater, to become the Trojans assistant general manager.

Max Stienecker, who previously served as the general manager at Wisconsin is USC's executive director of personnel. Stienecker is considered a ‘rising star’ in personnel at just 24 years old. Logan Snead, the son of Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead joined the front office last week in an analyst role that will focus on recruiting and the transfer portal.

The Trojans have invested in upgrading every aspect of its program and are already seeing the effects of it in their 2026 recruiting class. The Trojans hold 11 commitments and the top-ranked spot according to the 247Sports and Rivals recruiting rankings. USC has positioned themselves in the early stages to finish with a top 3 recruiting class for the first time 2015.

In less than a 48-hour span this past weekend the Trojans secured two big commitments from Lincoln-Way East (IL) four-star quarterback Jonas Williams and Santa Margarita Catholic (CA) four-star edge Simote Katoanga, two top 100 recruits.

Bowden was very high on Williams from his time at Notre Dame and worked to flip the top-ranked player in Illinois from Oregon. That carried over when Bowden joined the Trojans staff and pushed for Riley and quarterbacks coach Luke Huard to pursue Williams.

In it to win it, together.

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"Me and Chad have a great relationship,” Williams told 247Sports. “I love his energy. Our respect for each other is mutual. I think he is a great guy that I will spend a lot of time with, and he is a guy who will have my back."

Williams became a priority for USC and has developed a strong relationship with Riley in short period of time. The Trojans coach visited Williams at his school in late January and then the talented signal-caller made the trip to Los Angeles for USC’s Junior Day event at the beginning of the month.

"I chose USC because of the culture, the relationships that I've built, and the playing style of the offense,” Williams told 247Sports.

Katoanga was also part of a stacked list of recruits that were on campus for Junior Day. The event gave prospects their first opportunity to be around the Trojans new and improved staff and see the vision that is being put in place.

"With Chad Bowden there, I know he's building something special at SC," Katoanga said.

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There has been emphasis from the USC staff to build a fence around Southern California in recruiting. Keep top talent from leaving the state. A message that was reiterated emphatically by Bowden during his presser for National Signing Day.

“Every single day, something can change,” Bowden said. “We're going to be on offense every single day, and we're going to attack it. And we're going to attack it through high school, we're going to attack it through the state of California –– the best high school football in America is played in California –– and we're going to do everything that we can to get the very best players that are in California to stay here and play for USC."

USC will host an impressive list of recruits over the summer from across the country, headlined by local five-star receiver Chris Henry Jr. and athlete Brandon Arrington. The Trojans are working to build recruiting pipelines from prominent high schools in the area like Mater Dei, Oaks Christian, Sierra Canyon, and many more.

Riley is heading into year four at USC and outside of an 11-win season in his first year, his tenure hasn’t panned out the way fans were hoping. However, the Trojans upgraded front office, paired with a great coaching staff that has been hot on the recruiting trail gives the program a brand-new feel.

“Make no mistake, they’ve got the right people in the building now,” said Josh Pate of 247Sports.

Football games and championships are not won in February, and there is still work to be done, but USC is laying the groundwork to help propel the program to heights they envisioned when they hired Riley away from Oklahoma in November 2021.

There’s no erasing a disappointing 15-11 record the past two seasons and series of unexplainable losses. The vision for the future is in place, but results have to be seen on the field this upcoming year. However though, for the first time in a long time the Trojans have the right pieces in place from a coaching staff to recruiting and personnel department to fully compete in this new era of college football and everything that comes with it.

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