USC needs to hire an experienced defensive minded head coach and show Lincoln Riley the Tarmac

LOS ANGELES — USC needs to hire an experienced defensive minded head coach as its next head coach instead of a offensive coordinator masquerading as a head coach. Full stop. I get the allure of bringing Lincoln Riley, who for all intents and purposes was an "it" guy to Hollywood. USC was down and out – the Clay Helton nice guy experiment failed and he was let go in September 2021. Riley, on the other hand, was 55-10 at Oklahoma. And as some fans tried to explain on my recent X post, how is a guy with that record and who seemingly is a big name on paper "masquerading" as anything other than a legit head coach.

Riley tutored eventual Heisman winners Baker Mayfield and Caleb Williams. He ran a clean program that as far as I can tell at Oklahoma, and did not face any major NCAA infractions during his tenure (2017–2021). 

On paper, this was the guy that was going to come to USC, and change things. Change the patina of honestly forgettable coaches USC had since the glory days of Pete Caroll (yes, I know three of those coaches left USC and went on to coach big time SEC programs including winning a national title – Orgeron at LSU – with Sark at Texas and Kiffin now at LSU). I stand by my statement – while at USC, all three ultimately produced USC results that were on paper honestly foregetable. However, with Riley, USC finally landed a name and Riley was going to be the guy to fix all the problems.

The bigger problem though, is that really in the post Mike Garrett era USC's administration has historically understood that athletics is important and they certainly understand that Football is the revenue generating sport. However, from everything I have been able to observe, USC is one hundred percent more interested in masquerading as a blue blood than actually being one. Don’t get me wrong joining the Big Ten, the whole partnership with United Airlines, the whole in sourcing of the communications crew, the whole player content they shoot for in between the plays and for halftime it’s great. It’s definitely Hollywood. It's the social operation that a blue blood can leverage. But it should not be the foundation of blue blood. The foundation is its players. Its coaching philosphies. Its production on the field. The product that it puts out there.

In those dimensions, USC has chosen Hollywood production over the Hollywood ending and they don't produce football outcomes. USC does not recruit large lineman. They don’t recruit running backs who pound the ball (Do you think USC could ever recruit another LenDale White? LenDale is amongst the prior Trojan faithful that provide real talk about the state of the program periodically). USC does not recruit cornerbacks that are bigger than 5’10” and that can play the ball rather than go for the useless big hit. USC cares more about the "big hit" apparently than they do in playing solid defense and football. I recall hearing with the hiring of Gary Patterson, the former TCU Head Coach who finished the 2011 season 13-0, with a Rose Bowl Victory and a national #2 ranking to finish the season, that defensively, things were finally going to change.

Instead, at USC, as a player, the biggest thing you are looking forward to if you join the program is that if you are a wide receiver or an athlete, you have a chance for a midtier program career and if you are lucky you will have some tape that shows some nice catches, a few breakaway runs, and yes, with Makai Lemon (2025), and Marqise Lee (2012), an outside chance at a Biletnikoff if you have a quarterback that can actually throw a ball beyond 20 yards and consistently stay healthy in the program. USC defenders are all flash and no substance. I regularly tweet about its "swiss cheese" defense. I've been doing it now for 15 years. Nothing has changed since Pete. They have never – when it mattered – got it back. Let's be honest, the last bastion of a team worth remembering was Sam Darnold's Trojans, who won the 2017 Rose Bowl, but that same team gave up 49 points to an average Penn State team (yes, with Saquon Barkley but otherwise average). I don't need to pull the tape to tell you the defense was swiss cheese – I was there. The defensive players and schemes are always out of touch with the play. Any fans out there recall screaming at your TV as to why the corners are lined up 10 yards off the ball when the opposing offense only needs 7 for a first down? Yes, you do.

On offense like I said, the team is all flash and no substance. Name me a series of 4-5 games with consistent offensive production when it mattered versus a high 3rd or 4th down conversion rate. USC likes playing hero mode on offense – they aren't consistent like other teams and honestly, the level of competition in the BIG10 necessitates consistency over hero mode, which will lose every time. 

What does USC do no in the future? I think there are enough people who understand that Lincoln Riley's buyout – while prohibitive – is not the deal breaker to ousting him at USC. The boosters and donors will foot the bill sadly. I hope they extract their necessary pound of flesh and influence who's next. But it's worth investing time and energy into making a careful decision there, and I'm worried that will not be the case.

Rather than close on Urban Meyer or now go after someone like Saban, USC will likely get rid of Riley at this point and they will claim like they are doing some sort of national search to get the best person. The challenge however, is that more than likely USC willl get another "has been", "masquerader" or somebody that sees USC  as a step up for wherever they are at, but the reality is will do nothing for the program. It pains me to write that as a 3 time alum, Professor there for nearly 20 years, and loyal fan. But it's the more than likely truth.

The problem is the rot inside of the USC program starts from inside. It starts from the people who don’t understand Football running it.