USC's Lincoln Riley Opens Up About Gary Patterson

USC made a big-time coaching hire when they brought in former TCU Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson to be their next defensive coordinator this offseason. Patterson was with the Frogs from 2000-2021 and had spent the past few seasons as a consultant for the Baylor Bears and special assistant to the head coach for the Texas Longhorns. 

Patterson is now in at USC. This is a hire that USC’s Lincoln Riley is thrilled about. He and Patterson have a respect between each other that dates back to their days coaching against

"Gary and I have had a good relationship for a long time. We've competed against each other so many times. A lot of big games. I've had a chance at head coaching meetings and all that in the past to strike up a really good relationship," Riley said. "I've always had as much respect for him defenisevly as anybody i've ever coached against."

Riley eluded to trying to hire Patterson two years ago, the last time the USC defensive coordinator position was open.

"I tried to hire him two years ago, but he wasn't quite ready to get back into it and go all in as only he can," Riley said. "I think USC was just right, and this place was ready for a guy like him. He's going to come in and make us better defensively....Make our entire team better, our program better, make me better. Just been awesome having him in the building."

Instead of Patterson in 2024, USC hired D'Anton Lynn as defensive coordinator. Lynn was the defensive coordinator for the UCLA Bruins when Riley was able to hire him. After two seasons at USC, Lynn was hired to be the next defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Lynn played his college football for Penn State so his move from USC to there didn't come as a huge surprise. Lynn drastically improved the USC defense the second he got there. The Trojans defense allowed 10 points fewer per game in his first season compared to the year prior.

Even with Lynn improving that side of the ball in 2024 and 2025, there is still clearly room for improvement. USC hopes that Patterson is the right person for the task at hand to get the defense to take another step in the right direction.