USC Football: How Lincoln Riley Talks Poaching Top Rival Coordinator

Why Riley brought on a rival coordinator.

Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

After his first call with D'Anton Lynn, USC football head coach Lincoln Riley knew 'deep down in his gut' that the Trojans would end up hiring Lynn as the team's next defensive coordinator.

Since the Trojans fired Grinch on Nov. 5, before the end of the season, USC extra time to look at prospective defensive coordinators. Even with that additional time, it didn't take long for Riley to know Lynn was the right guy, which they showed by hiring him before their bowl game on Dec. 1.

"He fit what we wanted to do from a team and culture standpoint," Riley explained at Big Ten Media Day. "He obviously authored the biggest turnaround in defensive college football last year ... I thought the changes he made there were staggering."

Lynn coached a UCLA defense that finished the 2023 campaign as one o the best in college football. UCLA ranked 10th in yards allowed per game and 14th in points allowed per game, a stark contrast to their cross-town rivals. They also finished with the fifth-most sacks while allowing the second fewest rushing yards per game a season ago. Before Lynn took over in 2023, the Bruins did not even rank in the top 80 defenses in the country, and were a consistently leaky defense for over a decade.

Lynn will have to work his magic again as he takes over a USC defense that ranked 116th in total yards allowed and 118th in point allowed, giving up an average of 438.8 yards and 34.9 points per game in 2023. 

Having a stronger defense will be critical for the Trojans as they enter the Big Ten, the most defensively sound conference in all of college football. Five Big Ten teams ranked top-10 defensively in 2023, making the Big Ten one of the most challenging conferences in college football.

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