USC has, in my six years on the beat, consistently been one step behind those tectonic shifts to the sport. (I, for one, will never forget Mike Bohn refusal to acknowledge the existence of the first NIL collective that formed at USC.)

But in hiring a new general manager this week, the belief among USC’s leadership is that the program is finally getting ahead of the curve.

Over four seasons at Notre Dame, where he first started as a recruiting coordinator, Chad Bowden made a reputation for pushing the envelope and thinking outside the box. Which made him something of an interesting fit at a place so conservative and steeped in tradition as Notre Dame. But at USC, one could argue that’s exactly what’s needed.

“There are no boundaries for where his mind goes,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said of Bowden during an episode of Notre Dame’s official podcast, Wake Up The Echoes.

This is a guy who once suggested Freeman jump out of a helicopter to impress a recruit. He isn’t afraid to take risks — or wear a costume for a bit. But beyond the stunts, Bowden also clearly played a critical role in pushing Notre Dame into the modern age of college football, as it pertains to NIL and the transfer portal.

It helped that he and Freeman were very close, which makes his decision to trade Notre Dame for its rival all the more intriguing. Though, tripling a guy’s salary and paying him seven figures is certainly a convincing place to start.

Now he’ll have to work alongside Lincoln Riley, who has a very different personality, and he’ll have a tough task ahead of him at USC, where Riley will be under pressure to win immediately. But to hear Freeman talk about Bowden and his vision, it’s not hard to see how he could help USC’s head coach.

“Most of the time he has outside-the-box ideas. He pushes me.” Freeman said on that podcast. “You talk about a guy that challenges me to think outside of the box to get outside my comfort zone, sometimes I gotta say no. He is a guy that makes me better.”

“Jen Cohen, Lincoln Riley and USC’s total commitment to excellence make this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Bowden said, in a statement through USC.

“This is a place with the resources, facilities and support to build a perennial winner, and I’m excited to get to work to help bring more national championships to USC.”

What was your first reaction to Bowden taking the USC GM job?

I was definitely surprised at first. USC is Notre Dame’s biggest rival, so that’s a twist you usually don’t see coming. And, let’s face it, the programs are in different places right now as each coach enters his fourth year, so there’s some risk (also lots of potential upside) from Bowden’s end of things. But as someone at Notre Dame told me shortly after the news broke, this is an easier job to do at USC than it is at Notre Dame. Throw in the salary upgrade, and you can make sense of this move.

What is USC getting in Chad Bowden as its GM? What did he mean to Notre Dame’s recruiting and personnel operation?

He once got kicked out of the South Bend airport for welcoming recruits to town with a boombox. He definitely operated differently from how the Irish usually go about their business, and some of the old guard there isn’t exactly sad to see him go. Still, name me a championship contender who hasn’t had someone around to make folks uncomfortable from time to time. A segment of the fan base will rightly point out that Notre Dame’s recruiting rankings aren’t all that different from the Brian Kelly days, but the number of underclassmen — and transfers — who made an impact for the Irish during this run to the national championship game tells a different story.

Where Bowden truly excelled was in bonding with the recruits and their parents. Bowden is a young guy who is well-versed in the lingo of this generation, but I was always taken aback by how many parents went out of their way to single out how good their experiences with him were. Bowden was one of Sherrone Moore’s first calls when Moore got the Michigan job last year, and Notre Dame ultimately paid to keep Bowden. But I don’t think Michigan was offering anything near what USC did this time around.

Bowden was really close to Marcus Freeman. How do you anticipate him working with Lincoln Riley, who has a very different personality?

One of the funnier sights online last year was when Bowden got married and you saw pictures of Freeman — yes, the Notre Dame head football coach — standing among the groomsmen. That’s how close the two were, as Freeman brought Bowden with him from Cincinnati after the Irish hired him as defensive coordinator in 2021. There was definitely an element of big brother-little brother to their relationship, with Bowden always pushing up against the limits of Freeman and the school.

I’m not entirely sure what, if any, relationship Riley and Bowden have had prior to this move. But I would imagine USC did its homework, and if Bowden could sell South Bend, he sure will be able to sell L.A., presumably with fewer limitations than he had at Notre Dame.

Extra points

—In rebuilding its football program, USC has spared no expense. The school spent nearly $20 million to hire Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma, then at least $10 million per year in salary the two years after that. Hiring a top-notch defensive coordinator like D’Anton Lynn took another $2 million salary, before USC shelled out even more with a multi-year contract extension that this month made him one of the top paid coordinators in college football — again. Then Friday, USC backed up the Brinks truck to steal Bowden (for a reported $1 mil a year), to rebuild its personnel department. All three will be among the highest-paid in the nation at their respective positions next season, which sends a pretty clear message: USC is willing to spend to return the football program to prominence. And that’s before we talk about the $200-million football facility on the way, or the $20.5 million in revenue that USC will soon be sharing with athletes. The results, as of yet, haven’t been in line with the school’s investment. But there’s no questioning USC’s willingness to pay in solving its problems.

—Reggie Bush wants to be head coach at USC someday. In an interview with the Sporting Tribune, the Trojan legend said that he has “this urge inside of me to get out and coach” and that his dream would be to do that at USC. Maybe once upon a time, that would’ve been possible. But that was before Bush demanded the legal fees from his Heisman pursuit be paid by USC. And before he sued USC last year. University officials had made inroads to repair the relationship with Bush — then they found out about the lawsuit in a post on social media. Suffice to say, they weren’t happy. I would never rule out that a relationship can be repaired in the future. But the lawsuit remains ongoing, and Bush has made no effort that I’m aware of to talk it out with his alma mater.

—Pete Carroll will continue teaching his class, “Game is Life,” at USC this spring while taking over as the Las Vegas Raiders head coach. If you ever found yourself questioning Carroll’s vitality at age 73, well … Professor Pete would like a word. How much he’ll actually be teaching, or even physically present, this spring semester is another question entirely. But good on Carroll for keeping his promise to the kids who signed up to hear from him specifically. Raiders fans don’t seem thrilled with the idea, but Part-Time Pete might still be better than any of their Full-Time options over the last decade.

latimes.com

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