‘No half measures’: D’Anton Lynn’s journey from Celina, Texas to USC’s defensive guru
The face of the Trojans’ defensive rebuild, Lynn brings a competitive edge forged from breaking out of his father Anthony Lynn’s shadow
Luca Evans (OC Register) — LOS ANGELES — They would wage wars on the hoop in the driveway, a father who never believed in taking it easy and a son who never could accept his own failure.
Life is hard. Cruel. Unflinching. Anthony Lynn wanted his 10-year-old son D’Anton to know this, and understand that nothing came easy. Anthony was the pastor, and their driveway from Colorado to Texas to Florida was his sermon, preaching lessons with every swat of D’Anton’s shots and every game won 21-0.
D’Anton’s mother Cynda pleaded with Anthony, a former NFL running back in the twilight of his athletic prime, to lower the goal. To let him score, just once. No. If you want to score, Anthony would tell D’Anton, you need to learn how. Do something different. Go around me.
Cynda thought it would break her son’s confidence. Instead, D’Anton would drag his father back out when Anthony would get home, weary from long hours spent across various NFL coaching gigs. Back to the driveway. Back to another butt-whooping for D’Anton, a young Sisyphus pushing the rock.
Losing has never broken D’Anton Lynn, the man now tabbed as USC’s next defensive general. It just pissed him off. For eight years straight, he’d run 21 against his dad, and the competitiveness got intense. Unsettling. One fellow parent, Anthony said, barred a young D’Anton from his house.
He plays too rough.
His father’s legacy has loomed large since that driveway, across a football journey walking paths already tread by Anthony. In D’Anton’s sophomore year of high school, Anthony moved his family back to Celina, Texas upon taking a job with the Cowboys – the tiny town with one stoplight where the father was a living legend. Best player in Celina High history. And Anthony thought it would all be too much for his son, a ballplayer himself, nowhere to run to escape a long shadow.
But by the time his senior year at Celina rolled around, D’Anton beat Anthony in the driveway for the first time.
“There was no mercy,” Anthony remembered.
And D’Anton never lost to his father again.
Two decades later, sister Danielle said, her brother hasn’t changed. That gene’s masked, maybe, by a private demeanor, an analytical approach that made him into a Broyles Award finalist at UCLA and a rising name in the coaching business. But after a mutual pursuit, D’Anton stepped into USC’s open defensive coordinator position in December, with all its pressure and legacy and trail of bodies left behind, because of the challenge.
“You are going to a whole ’nother level of expectations,” Anthony remembered telling his son, when he accepted the job in December. “You are going into a hotbox, kid.”
D’Anton just smiled, a 34-year-old who had long shed his dad’s silhouette back in Celina.
“I just get the impression,” Anthony said, “he likes it. That’s what he wants.”
INTIMIDATING LEGACY
His son had no choice, Anthony felt, for a life in anything besides football by the time he came face-first with his dad’s legacy in Celina.
They bought a house in a little neighborhood right outside town, a lake nearby, right down the street from then-Celina offensive coordinator Bill Elliott. In the summers, D’Anton would come running over to the back window of Elliott’s house, where the coach’s boys sold fireworks out of their bedroom. Oh, how Elliott’s sons idolized D’Anton, because he was a Celina Bobcat. And in this town of a few thousand, then, everyone idolized the Celina Bobcats.
This was the home of the greatest win streak in Texas high school football history, a 68-game span. But they were not concerned with going undefeated at Celina, longtime coach Butch Ford said. Not concerned with winning the district. At Celina, it was a state championship or it was nothing.
It was intimidating, Danielle remembered, to move back to this small town. Anthony Lynn, to many, was considered the best Bobcat who had ever come through Celina. Long before D’Anton ever stepped into the spotlight in Los Angeles, his father worried he was making a mistake, bringing his son back to the same field and the same blue-collar atmosphere he was molded by.
“At one point,” Anthony said, “I thought it was going to be like a nightmare.”
Anthony loves Celina. But he grew up angry, at times, in the South. In one Little League game, a team full of “rednecks,” as Anthony’s youth baseball coach Pat Hunt put it, hurled racial slurs at Anthony when he came up to hit. He grew up feeling othered and disrespected. So Anthony took to fighting.
And when he was young, his grandfather sat him down.
You can’t go on like this, his grandfather told Anthony, because at some point, somebody’s going to kill you.
A generation later, early in D’Anton’s time at Celina, a teammate plastered a sticker on his back as a prank. It was meant as nothing more cruel than a joke. But D’Anton took it hard. To his son, then, Anthony said, it “almost came across as even a little racist.”
“Mentally,” Anthony remembered, “the kid wasn’t happy.”
LASER-FOCUSED
By the time they finished school, D’Anton Lynn and that same teammate became best friends.
That Celina kid – who declined to be identified for this story – was about 5-foot nothing. D’Anton had heaps of inches and pounds on him. He could have swung on him, after the sticker. He could have, as family friend Hunt put it, “destroyed him.”
He didn’t. Because the young Lynn, as folks in Celina remember, had a special self-control, a self-confidence. He never touched drink or smoke, laser-focused on a football career that would lead him to Penn State.
Throughout D’Anton’s first year at Celina, Anthony kept an eye on potential schools in Dallas, seeing pain in his son’s eyes and thinking a larger school might be a more comfortable fit. But the young Lynn stuck it out, Ford seeing a need and switching him from quarterback to linebacker and later safety. One day, D’Anton was invited out by a school booster to go and work on the same ranch Anthony grew up working on.
The son came back dirty and tired and happy. That’s my boy,Anthony thought. And he stopped looking at schools in Dallas.
In the final game of D’Anton’s Celina career, his senior year in 2007, he cracked his clavicle on a hit in a state championship game against China Spring. It was a death blow. China Spring liked to throw the ball.
So on the sideline after a few plays being evaluated by a doctor, D’Anton went up to Ford.
“I got to play, Coach,” D’Anton begged Ford. “I got to play. I can help us win.”
He couldn’t raise his arm. But Ford put him back out there. And D’Anton spent the rest of the game shadowing China Spring’s best receiver, tackling one-handed, as Celina won a state title for the second time in his career.
Becoming a part of Celina, truly, in a way his father – who never won a state championship – could never quite touch.
“That’s the kind of kid he is,” Elliott said, remembering D’Anton’s simple refusal to come out of that state title game. “That’s the kind of mentality he has.”
ABSORB AND ASCEND
During a stint with the Buffalo Bills in the mid-2010s, Anthony was walking back to the practice facility parking lot late one night when he heard a voice carrying from the defensive meeting room.
Curious, he turned back and peeked through the door to find his son – then an assistant under head coach Rex Ryan, tasked with some play-install responsibilities – practicing a PowerPoint presentation at 11 p.m. to an empty room as if it was full.
Young D’Anton Lynn was perhaps always destined to follow his father into coaching. (Photo courtesy of Cynda Lynn)
This kid is different, Anthony thought. And in many ways, he only had himself to blame. He used to bring a young D’Anton to training camps when he was with the Denver Broncos, his 8-year-old son forcing his father to listen to his personnel breakdowns on car rides back home.
After a strong career at Penn State, an injury wiped out any shot D’Anton had at the NFL. So after a quick practice squad stint with the New York Jets, he immediately pivoted to accepting a scouting internship, making nothing but peanuts and living with roommates in pursuit of a coaching career.
You had to take immediate notice of D’Anton because of his father’s pedigree, said longtime colleague and current Baltimore Ravens defensive line coach Anthony Weaver, and indeed D’Anton spent his first few assistant jobs – Jets, Bills, Chargers – on staffs with his dad. But in his preparation and intellect, Weaver said, it was simple to tell it wouldn’t be long before he put on a coordinator’s headset.
And over time, the young Lynn became a sponge, soaking in learnings from various coordinators. There was Ryan, and Houston’s Romeo Crennel, and the Ravens’ Don “Wink” Martindale. In 2020, when Weaver was named Houston’s defensive coordinator, he and Lynn sat down with a glass of bourbon and dissected each fragment of their defensive gameplan every Saturday night. And Lynn was special, Weaver said, because he always asked why.
Lynn’s defensive philosophy became fluid, his secondary ideals becoming a combination of the man-coverage-based Ryan tree and pattern-match zone in Houston, his belief in the front seven formed in complementary big bodies who could stay on the field through a variety of downs. It coalesced into a defensive revitalization at UCLA in his first year as a collegiate coordinator this past fall, the Bruins’ defense finishing 14th in the FBS in points-per-game allowed after winding up 92nd in 2022.
“As far as our defense, I’m not a guy who has like a, hey, this is my scheme, this is what I do … I think you have to be flexible, you have to be able to adapt, and you need a scheme that is built that way,” D’Anton said in December, during his first press conference after taking the USC job.
Perhaps this ascent was always destined to happen, a spirit forged in that driveway in Celina, a mind forged from years soaking in NFL locker rooms.
“It wasn’t a matter of if,” Weaver said. “It was just going to be a matter of when.”
PASSION FOR PERFECTION
The challengers came in waves to Penn State’s Mifflin Hall back in the late 2000s, down to Ryan Scherer and D’Anton Lynn’s dorm room, for legendary duels on the sticks in NCAA Football.
Scherer and Lynn’s fiercest opponent, though, was always each other, keeping a running tally on their dorm wall of matchup wins. And every time Scherer would win a few in a row and find a play he’d spam to oblivion, he’d come back and find his roommate had somehow developed a counter.
“He was definitely, clearly thinking about it in his free time,” Scherer recalled, a smile in his voice.
“When he sets his mind to something … he’s going all in,” Scherer continued later. “There’s no half-measures with him. No half steps.”
Her brother, sister Danielle said, is “well aware of the situation he’s going into” at USC. The Trojans’ season crumbled for the second straight year with an underwhelming defensive unit; public statements from head coach Lincoln Riley pledging improvement have been emphatic, tinged with a mild hint of desperation.
“One of the reasons I was excited about this job,” Lynn said during his initial press conference, “is because I felt that after my conversations with Coach Riley and (Athletic Director) Jen Cohen, they are passionate about playing elite defense here at USC by any means necessary.”
And in just a month, Lynn’s impact has been resounding – bringing in a slew of major defensive transfers and early signing recruits that have pointed to his presence as the selling point for coming to USC.
Initially, still, when D’Anton called Danielle about USC’s interest – the two thick as thieves since birth – there was shock in his voice, his sister recalled. Woah. This could happen.
Of course it could, she recalled telling him. You deserve this.
No longer anyone can say this is because of who our dad is.
“Whether he wants to admit it or not,” Danielle said of D’Anton, “I think he’s destined for greatness.”
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Honest question for any TDBer in their 70’s. Would you want to take on another huge new professional role in your life? I know Pete and Bill are passionate about coaching, but they are in their 70’s. Are they up
for a rebuild grind? Is the club willing to roll the dice on a coach their age?
I don’t necessarily predict any success for either Carroll or Belichick at their next stop. In fact, I doubt it based on how their recent teams, over which they have had so much control, have played.
Personally, I’d look for younger guys, of which there are quite a few. And the NFL has turned so much more towards offense with coaches like Sean McVay. I also like Mike Vrabel a lot, and he’s 48.
But neither Carroll nor Belichick are willing to leave the game under their current circumstances. Both have been great, but I wouldn’t go with either.
Nope……unfortunately neither is a great match for TV either.
Coaching is such a demanding profession…….when it’s time to go……it’s time to go. I watched Pete’s press conference…..he sure handled it with class.
There’s never been a press conference that Pete didn’t kill.
He may be the greatest presser coach of all time. Throw in his on-the-field record, and I think he’s an NFL HOF coach.
And just think, had just two plays turned out differently for him, Pete would have won another Super Bowl and another CFB NC. He knows incredible success, as well as amazing heartbreak as a HC.
I obviously have no experience as a journalist….but I was impressed…..he started being emotional but caught himself and raised his head…. as to the comments on the HOF and his career……2x! As a fortunate resident in the Pacific Northwest during his glory years…..man were we lucky to have him.
Since you had a front row seat, I can’t imagine the fun he brought to you and John in LA during his run at USC.
Pete should angle for the Chargers job, where he would have his QB. And Los Angeles loves Pete!
But if I were the Chargers, I’d be concerned about how many more years Pete has in him, especially since Seattle, which knows him best, already thinks he’s done.
And my thinking is, ANYONE who takes that job is only likely to be a “transitional man” in light of the tall Saban shadow. At 72, Carroll has a big enough shadow of his own that he could coach a few seasons just to ease the dramatic transition while Alabama looks for the next potential future superstar to take over. I’d think about that if I were Alabama’s AD.
College football has radically changed so much that I can’t imagine 72-year-old Pete would want to get back into the insane recruiting grind and the NIL wars. I’d much rather be an NFL coach these days, at least until CFB figures out how to better manage itself, which is gonna take a lot of work.
That’s true, but Alabama has so much machinery in place for all that stuff; their non-coaching staff is the largest in the country. Alabama would offer PC a whole framework to step into, and most of his work could be spent working with players which is what he seems to love most. He could enjoy the kind of run that LR enjoyed at Oklahoma, stepping into a large existing framework. It is hard to see where PC can get any juice just walking into another NFL team. He seemed way too much on autopilot recently in Seattle for his personality.
Just gravy training off the thinking and guessing of others here — Kalen DeBoer looks like he is the best candidate to take his 104-12 career record to the Tide.
So the question would be who becomes the next head man at UW, Jen Cohen’s old stomping grounds. Also, DeBoer has changed agents to Jimmy Sexton. Since DeBoer no longer works for the person who hired him, he’s more apt to leave for ALA.
Sexton is Saban agent … who wants DeBoer to replace
Sexton is a talented BS artist that kick backs ADs for hiring and extended his shit clients like Kiffy and Suck and Gomer
Great question. I believe Lanning was smart to stay at ORE and would have eventually, probably quickly, been buried alive as Saban’s successor. So he squeezed even more dough out of Knight to remain a Duck.
This musical coaching chairs stuff is so fascinating. Maybe DeBoer (from South Dakota by the way) would want to go to MICH if Harbaugh moves on to the NFL as seems likely. Personally, I’d like the Wolverine job over ALA.
What I’am being told by friends in Eugene, Lanning has options for Nike stock in his contract that may be worth mucho bucks, if he succeeds at Oregon. The options are cancelled if he leaves. After making some goals in his contract he will be being paid close to 9.5 million. So it’s not cash. He has expressed a big family orientation for a city like Eugene to put down medium term roots. Spouse power. He also has a big donor while in this new world of NIL….not sure Bama will be competing as well as in the past. Bama… Read more »
It’s crazy to consider the big coaching names being kicked around for hire this year…Belichick, Carroll, Harbaugh…all presumably targeting NFL openings. Which team will land one of the biggies first, and then how will the dominoes drop? Fascinating to watch.
Unless you’re a crack addict or have the spending habits of Hunter Biden, why would you need incentive clauses in your contract if your base salary were $9.5 million? I can’t think of anything I’d like to do that I could do with $11 million/year but not $9.5.
So, no, I don’t buy that Lanning turned down a better job just to preserve his Nike stock options. Not wanting to be the guy to replace Saban is a perfectly valid reason for anyone to turn down the job.
The Bama job is fascinating in that it is one of the rare blue blood programs, and they don’t open up too often. On the one hand, it is highly desirable on that fact alone, but on the other hand, this particular blue blood program comes with the largest coaching shadow ever to have to coach from under, and a top 10 shadow in the history books with Bear Bryant. That will be a brutal deterrent, and the faint of heart and confidence need not apply.
Some schools are so wary of ‘Bama that they insist their HC’s pay them back a much larger buyout should he want to leave for The Tide instead of any other school.
Case in point, Dabo Swinney, who walked on and played WR on the ’92 ALA NC team coached by Gene Stallings. Swinney would have to pay 150% of his normal buyout charge if he were to leave for Tuscaloosa.
Chump change for sure given today’s contracts. But ALA scares the heck out of everyone, both on and off the field.
The football world has turned upside down in a very short time. Messrs. Belichick, Saban and Carroll all gone from their long time jobs. I agree with Chris that this kind of an era will probably never be seen again. The media “insiders” are going to have a field day and the game of musical chairs is going to be unreal. Perhaps the lyrics of Lionel Richie capture it perfectly:
Well my friends the time has come to raise the roof and have some fun
Throw away the work to be done and let the music play on.
I have a feeling PC was the best of the 3. How much of Belichick was Tom Brady? How much of Saban was the booster machine of the state of Alabama? Pete was an energizer and motivator that surrounded himself with talented players and coaches. That’s what a great HC does.
But Saban was by far the best adapter to the changing nature of the game over the years, which is why he left completely on his own terms while both Carroll and Belichick were told the party was over.
All great coaches, but Saban always stayed more current than a dinosaur like his good friend Belichick, and saved the careers of both Lane Kiffin and Sark, both of whom would probably split for Tuscaloosa were it not for DeBoer being a better coach and option than both.
All true Allen. Like Pete, Saban was a good judge of talent. His coaching tree is vast. Most of the great ones have to be told it is time to move on, that’s a long list in sports, entertainment, politics and business. I agree Belichick’s inability to adapt without Brady puts him in 3rd place.
Bellichick, Saban, and Pete all out in same week. The greatest college coach ever, the greatest NFL coach ever, and a coach bound for Canton with national championships and a Super Bowl. We’re most likely not going to see an era like this again in our lifetimes.
Jayden Maiava will be the first Polynesian QB in USC history Cameron Kiszla (KTLA) — When USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley landed a quarterback out of the transfer portal this week, he wasn’t just adding a player to the roster. He was making history. Jayden Maiava, who is transferring to USC from UNLV, is the first Polynesian QB for the Trojan football team, according to the Nilx Management Group, which represents him. “Jayden has officially committed to USC, and we couldn’t be more proud of this historic achievement,” Nilx added on X, formerly Twitter. Maiava had initially committed to transfer to powerhouse Georgia… Read more »
Riley should invite Saban out to LA for a season to give him advice, get him a nice place at the beach and take it easy. Then invite Pete to do the same thing, get them both as analysts.
One line of thought: It would take a strange cat breed to agree to immed follow easily the greatest modern-era CFB coach ever, especially in a place like football-crazed Tuscaloosa.
Important labels that come to mind are masochist, delusional, uninformed, silly, crazy, daredevil, comedian, obsessed, intrepid…
Wow……with all the changes to the game……I feel older today…….Pete and Nick both gone. It’s like it’s all changing….like it always does.
Saban did such a great job. I’am going to miss that shake of the head when somebody did something stupid. Wonder who grabs bama…..Kiffin? Him hiring Sark and Kiffin when nobody else would.
As for Pete…..nobody can replace him…..as he slaps every player coming off.
I hope for both these men only the best as they fade away.
All the domino’s are about to fall. Saban, Harbaugh (going to happen) leave huge openings. The portal now opens up to a bunch more guys. The next few weeks will be crazy.
Roll Tide Wire’s early replacement list for Saban, Dan Lanning, Kalen DeBoer, Dabo Swinney, Lane Kiffin, Mike Norvell. Speculation will run wild. Then watch the transfer portal light up as well.
Wow, that’s huge! I’ve suspected Kiffin has been hoping for that gig. Coaches will be lining up, but it’ll be brutal to follow the Saban, just like it was a litany of failed successors to Bryant.
Colin Cowherd reports Pete Carroll is now out as the Seahawk coach. Fired NFL coaches is already a long list this year. Pete’s had bad OL issues for a decade. Even Pete’s defense got bad. Sean McVay in a rebuilding year has gone 10-7, made the playoffs, and beat Pete twice — and underachieving Seattle has better personnel than the Rams. Don’t be shocked if still valuable Pete stays in the organization upstairs. Great run Pete! You’re a Hall-of-Famer. Always a Trojan. Ironically, former Trojan QB, now excellent announcer Mark Sanchez (totally shocked at the news) called Pete’s last game… Read more »
Assuming he doesn’t flip back again to GA (which is basically already loaded at QB), what does adding well-regarded 6-4, 220-pound UNLV Portal QB Jayden Maiava mean for USC? Nothing but good… Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — Lincoln Riley spoke of potentially adding two quarterbacks in the transfer portal after losing Caleb Williams and Malachi Nelson. Riley wanted to target both a younger quarterback and an experienced one. Well, Maiava fills both needs with three years of eligibility for USC. He didn’t open the season as UNLV’s starter but was thrust into the lineup in Week 3 and led the Rebels to a 7-2… Read more »
It sure sounds like USC has gotten their recruiting together. These are two huge gets and to flip a player from GA is huge for Riley. NIL must be really coming together.
Former UNLV QB Jayden Maiava (6-4, 220, Honolulu, Hi) flips commitment from Georgia to USC Maiava, with three years of eligibility left, committed to USC earlier today after announcing for Georgia on Monday night. Greg Biggins (USCFootball.com) — Maiva took official visits to both programs over the last week. We know it was an agonizing decision for Maiva and he went back and forth a few times between the Dawgs and Trojans. USC head coach Lincoln Riley was pretty relentless in his recruitment of Maiava and was able to get the quarterback on the phone this morning. Maiava and his family loved the visit… Read more »
USC has now moved up to 247Sports’ #7 spot, trailing OLE MISS, A&M, CU, LOUIS, FSU and MO.
A&M DT transfer DT Isaiah Raikes (6-2, 330, Richland, NJ) is USC’s latest addition (#11) and moves into a huge need position — a heavyweight space-eater in the middle to anchor for new DC Lynn. Raikes, a 3-star prep, had 17 tackles, 3.0 TFLs, and 1.0 sacks last season.
Key info — “A big thing for Maiava was the opportunity to compete for playing time right away and he was told it will be an open competition in the Spring.”
I remember USC had a linebacker named Kaluka Maiava around 2006-2008. At that time the Trojans had a great linebacking group with Brian Cushing, Rey Malaluga, and Clay Matthews as I recall. So I’m wondering if Jayden and Kaluka are related.
https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/2023/12/24/usc-has-nine-fewer-blue-chip-signees-than-oregon-for-the-2024-cycle/ I just found this article on Trojan Wire. I’m extremely happy with some of these transfers we’ve gotten especially the DL from A&M huge score for us. Obviously we need to win to bring in elite recruits. However one thing that this article discusses is SC’s NIL program vs other schools and that does not sit to well as a fan. Maybe I’m not reading the article right but if we are not willing to pay for as many blue chip players as other elite programs then what is the point of moving to a more competitive conference than… Read more »
247Sports lists 32 5* players. What does it take to get them? All of them will get several up front 6 figure NIL deals. Then it comes down to coaches success, program success, and “dream school”. Some of these guys will be mercenaries and go for the $s. They will leave for the next pay day. Some will be Malachi Nelsons, too distracted by the $s to put in the work. Finally some will be the guys that win a championship. In the long run SC’s plan to get 4* guys hungry to work, prove themselves, be Trojans and let… Read more »
My only point is if we’re not keeping up with Jones in NIL regardless of what we currently have to offer as attraction to recruits then you are not showing the willingness to win. Still have to use NIL to build an attractive place for players to want to come. Not saying that performance is not a key factor as well as coaching, but times have changed and you got pay to play. Paying and development equals performance. I get that it’s along road as fan, but guess what it’s gonna be longer to build a program if you are… Read more »
What the best strategy is only time will tell. Surely you need the 5* guys to win championships. How best to use your time and money to get them is still working its way out. I have seen stats in the past that show a high % them get to the NFL but some are a bust. I wonder if NIL will increase the number that go bust? Football is the ultimate team sport. I would rather have a team of 4*s all working together than a bunch of 5*s just out for themselves.
All I know is one thing who stays on your team longer Transfers of HS recruits? Who do I have better chemistry with transfers or guys I’ve had all 4 years. Controlling state HS recruits and paying them is more important than paying transfer players. Maybe not in the beginning because you are building, but in the end State recruits are more important than transfers and that is where we are failing and letting teams out bid us for those players when you need to keep them at home.
Reading this article you get the impression Lynn is going to succeed in building the Trojan defense no matter the obstacle. If he has to, he will battle for every scholarship he can swipe away from LR for the defensive side and that is what is needed here. A DC that won’t accept “no”! And he won’t accept failure.
I’m so glad Lynn is now a Trojan. He’s on a straight line to greatness, just as his sister predicts. Total home run hire by LR. In one single season, Lynn completely and immediately transformed generally soft UCLA into a hard-tackling bunch that could kick USC around with little problem. We hammered UCLA and began the long delayed, but proper rebuild of the Trojan D at the same time. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hold onto him as I suspect he’ll follow his dad’s trail to the NFL — where you don’t need to recruit 24/7.… Read more »
There’s no benefit to playing the “what if” game, it’ll only make you more disgruntled. But allow me to do it anyway. Specifically, what if we had fired Grinch after the Tulane debacle and hired Lynn instead of the bRuins? I’m thinking we probably would’ve been in the playoffs instead of Washington. The whole season would’ve been different, ours, and ucla’s. There is certainly a consensus that we wasted a full year of not just spinning in place, but actually regressing in most areas while squandering the last year of a generationally talented QB. LR must never have heard of… Read more »
Here’s a theory, LR and Grinch are close friends, their wives are close friends. He wanted to give his friend another year and with some more talent maybe the defense would be good enough. And then there is the “Happy wife, happy life”.
This season will burned in my memory for watching the most confused bunch of defensive players I have ever witnessed on a football field.
His son had no choice, Anthony felt, for a life in anything besides football by the time he came face-first with his dad’s legacy in Celina.
Young D’Anton Lynn was perhaps always destined to follow his father into coaching. (Photo courtesy of Cynda Lynn)
After a strong career at Penn State, an injury wiped out any shot D’Anton had at the NFL
Can’t wait to watch the Wild Card Rams (and Puka Nacua) in Detroit vs the Lions (and Amon-Ra St. Brown) this Sunday (5 PM PT, NBC).
The Matt Stafford vs Jared Goff, as well as the Sean McVay vs Dan Campbell matchups are also very interesting.
Honest question for any TDBer in their 70’s. Would you want to take on another huge new professional role in your life? I know Pete and Bill are passionate about coaching, but they are in their 70’s. Are they up
for a rebuild grind? Is the club willing to roll the dice on a coach their age?
I don’t necessarily predict any success for either Carroll or Belichick at their next stop. In fact, I doubt it based on how their recent teams, over which they have had so much control, have played.
Personally, I’d look for younger guys, of which there are quite a few. And the NFL has turned so much more towards offense with coaches like Sean McVay. I also like Mike Vrabel a lot, and he’s 48.
But neither Carroll nor Belichick are willing to leave the game under their current circumstances. Both have been great, but I wouldn’t go with either.
Nope……unfortunately neither is a great match for TV either.
Coaching is such a demanding profession…….when it’s time to go……it’s time to go. I watched Pete’s press conference…..he sure handled it with class.
There’s never been a press conference that Pete didn’t kill.
He may be the greatest presser coach of all time. Throw in his on-the-field record, and I think he’s an NFL HOF coach.
And just think, had just two plays turned out differently for him, Pete would have won another Super Bowl and another CFB NC. He knows incredible success, as well as amazing heartbreak as a HC.
I obviously have no experience as a journalist….but I was impressed…..he started being emotional but caught himself and raised his head…. as to the comments on the HOF and his career……2x! As a fortunate resident in the Pacific Northwest during his glory years…..man were we lucky to have him.
Since you had a front row seat, I can’t imagine the fun he brought to you and John in LA during his run at USC.
Pete should angle for the Chargers job, where he would have his QB. And Los Angeles loves Pete!
But if I were the Chargers, I’d be concerned about how many more years Pete has in him, especially since Seattle, which knows him best, already thinks he’s done.
Forgive me if the question has already been posed, but any chance Pete Carroll slides on over into that Alabama job?
And my thinking is, ANYONE who takes that job is only likely to be a “transitional man” in light of the tall Saban shadow. At 72, Carroll has a big enough shadow of his own that he could coach a few seasons just to ease the dramatic transition while Alabama looks for the next potential future superstar to take over. I’d think about that if I were Alabama’s AD.
College football has radically changed so much that I can’t imagine 72-year-old Pete would want to get back into the insane recruiting grind and the NIL wars. I’d much rather be an NFL coach these days, at least until CFB figures out how to better manage itself, which is gonna take a lot of work.
That’s true, but Alabama has so much machinery in place for all that stuff; their non-coaching staff is the largest in the country. Alabama would offer PC a whole framework to step into, and most of his work could be spent working with players which is what he seems to love most. He could enjoy the kind of run that LR enjoyed at Oklahoma, stepping into a large existing framework. It is hard to see where PC can get any juice just walking into another NFL team. He seemed way too much on autopilot recently in Seattle for his personality.
Just gravy training off the thinking and guessing of others here — Kalen DeBoer looks like he is the best candidate to take his 104-12 career record to the Tide.
So the question would be who becomes the next head man at UW, Jen Cohen’s old stomping grounds. Also, DeBoer has changed agents to Jimmy Sexton. Since DeBoer no longer works for the person who hired him, he’s more apt to leave for ALA.
A good choice, young (but experienced), up and comer, outside the SEC/Alabama food chain, success wherever he goes.
Sexton is Saban agent … who wants DeBoer to replace
Sexton is a talented BS artist that kick backs ADs for hiring and extended his shit clients like Kiffy and Suck and Gomer
Dan Lanning has announced he’s staying at ORE.
Both Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick sound like they aren’t ready to hang it up.
So did Lanning pass on Alabama or did Alabama pass on Lanning? What kind of raise did Phil Knight give Lanning?
Great question. I believe Lanning was smart to stay at ORE and would have eventually, probably quickly, been buried alive as Saban’s successor. So he squeezed even more dough out of Knight to remain a Duck.
This musical coaching chairs stuff is so fascinating. Maybe DeBoer (from South Dakota by the way) would want to go to MICH if Harbaugh moves on to the NFL as seems likely. Personally, I’d like the Wolverine job over ALA.
What I’am being told by friends in Eugene, Lanning has options for Nike stock in his contract that may be worth mucho bucks, if he succeeds at Oregon. The options are cancelled if he leaves. After making some goals in his contract he will be being paid close to 9.5 million. So it’s not cash. He has expressed a big family orientation for a city like Eugene to put down medium term roots. Spouse power. He also has a big donor while in this new world of NIL….not sure Bama will be competing as well as in the past. Bama… Read more »
and one last item…..looking at the defense he is assembling at Oregon…..wow…..just wow. The DL in a year might be NFL level.
Indeed, ALA football has created its very own perfect Catch-22.
Who’s possibly good enough for this Saban-stamped legacy and its expectations now? The dynamics going on behind the scenes must be amazing.
I’m still going with DeBoer to ALA, unless he follows Harbaugh to MICH should the NFL swoop him up.
What a massive time crunch for these ever-revolving scenarios.
It’s crazy to consider the big coaching names being kicked around for hire this year…Belichick, Carroll, Harbaugh…all presumably targeting NFL openings. Which team will land one of the biggies first, and then how will the dominoes drop? Fascinating to watch.
It truly is amazing how many huge-name coaches are out there looking for work, or to just move.
Football’s latest Rubik’s Cube workup should give us all so much to talk about while LR continues to focus on his rethought Trojan rebuild.
DeBoer did a good job up there this year….If I were the Michigan AD I would have him on speed dial. It’s almost a perfect match.
Unless you’re a crack addict or have the spending habits of Hunter Biden, why would you need incentive clauses in your contract if your base salary were $9.5 million? I can’t think of anything I’d like to do that I could do with $11 million/year but not $9.5.
So, no, I don’t buy that Lanning turned down a better job just to preserve his Nike stock options. Not wanting to be the guy to replace Saban is a perfectly valid reason for anyone to turn down the job.
The Bama job is fascinating in that it is one of the rare blue blood programs, and they don’t open up too often. On the one hand, it is highly desirable on that fact alone, but on the other hand, this particular blue blood program comes with the largest coaching shadow ever to have to coach from under, and a top 10 shadow in the history books with Bear Bryant. That will be a brutal deterrent, and the faint of heart and confidence need not apply.
Tide Specific Clauses
Some schools are so wary of ‘Bama that they insist their HC’s pay them back a much larger buyout should he want to leave for The Tide instead of any other school.
Case in point, Dabo Swinney, who walked on and played WR on the ’92 ALA NC team coached by Gene Stallings. Swinney would have to pay 150% of his normal buyout charge if he were to leave for Tuscaloosa.
Chump change for sure given today’s contracts. But ALA scares the heck out of everyone, both on and off the field.
The football world has turned upside down in a very short time. Messrs. Belichick, Saban and Carroll all gone from their long time jobs. I agree with Chris that this kind of an era will probably never be seen again. The media “insiders” are going to have a field day and the game of musical chairs is going to be unreal. Perhaps the lyrics of Lionel Richie capture it perfectly:
Well my friends the time has come to raise the roof and have some fun
Throw away the work to be done and let the music play on.
I have a feeling PC was the best of the 3. How much of Belichick was Tom Brady? How much of Saban was the booster machine of the state of Alabama? Pete was an energizer and motivator that surrounded himself with talented players and coaches. That’s what a great HC does.
But Saban was by far the best adapter to the changing nature of the game over the years, which is why he left completely on his own terms while both Carroll and Belichick were told the party was over.
All great coaches, but Saban always stayed more current than a dinosaur like his good friend Belichick, and saved the careers of both Lane Kiffin and Sark, both of whom would probably split for Tuscaloosa were it not for DeBoer being a better coach and option than both.
All true Allen. Like Pete, Saban was a good judge of talent. His coaching tree is vast. Most of the great ones have to be told it is time to move on, that’s a long list in sports, entertainment, politics and business. I agree Belichick’s inability to adapt without Brady puts him in 3rd place.
Bellichick, Saban, and Pete all out in same week. The greatest college coach ever, the greatest NFL coach ever, and a coach bound for Canton with national championships and a Super Bowl. We’re most likely not going to see an era like this again in our lifetimes.
Jayden Maiava will be the first Polynesian QB in USC history Cameron Kiszla (KTLA) — When USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley landed a quarterback out of the transfer portal this week, he wasn’t just adding a player to the roster. He was making history. Jayden Maiava, who is transferring to USC from UNLV, is the first Polynesian QB for the Trojan football team, according to the Nilx Management Group, which represents him. “Jayden has officially committed to USC, and we couldn’t be more proud of this historic achievement,” Nilx added on X, formerly Twitter. Maiava had initially committed to transfer to powerhouse Georgia… Read more »
I hope Korey succeeds. I’m not sure what happened at SC
In case you haven’t heard, Korey Foreman to FRESNO ST looks likely.
Thank you Korey. Great pick!
Riley should invite Saban out to LA for a season to give him advice, get him a nice place at the beach and take it easy. Then invite Pete to do the same thing, get them both as analysts.
I’d be fine with just Pete. He deserves to be welcomed back.
One line of thought: It would take a strange cat breed to agree to immed follow easily the greatest modern-era CFB coach ever, especially in a place like football-crazed Tuscaloosa.
Important labels that come to mind are masochist, delusional, uninformed, silly, crazy, daredevil, comedian, obsessed, intrepid…
How about massively confident super ego they would be crazy not to hire me guy.
Confucius says “Be the guy that follows the guy that follows the legend.”
Wow……with all the changes to the game……I feel older today…….Pete and Nick both gone. It’s like it’s all changing….like it always does.
Saban did such a great job. I’am going to miss that shake of the head when somebody did something stupid. Wonder who grabs bama…..Kiffin? Him hiring Sark and Kiffin when nobody else would.
As for Pete…..nobody can replace him…..as he slaps every player coming off.
I hope for both these men only the best as they fade away.
All the domino’s are about to fall. Saban, Harbaugh (going to happen) leave huge openings. The portal now opens up to a bunch more guys. The next few weeks will be crazy.
Roll Tide Wire’s early replacement list for Saban, Dan Lanning, Kalen DeBoer, Dabo Swinney, Lane Kiffin, Mike Norvell. Speculation will run wild. Then watch the transfer portal light up as well.
7-Time National Champ Nick Saban is retiring. ORE’s Dan Lanning is viewed as a strong replacement candidate.
Bye Bye Dan? The Ducks hardly knew ya.
Wow, that’s huge! I’ve suspected Kiffin has been hoping for that gig. Coaches will be lining up, but it’ll be brutal to follow the Saban, just like it was a litany of failed successors to Bryant.
I hope they hire this arrogant pr!ck and he fails miserably.
Colin Cowherd reports Pete Carroll is now out as the Seahawk coach. Fired NFL coaches is already a long list this year. Pete’s had bad OL issues for a decade. Even Pete’s defense got bad. Sean McVay in a rebuilding year has gone 10-7, made the playoffs, and beat Pete twice — and underachieving Seattle has better personnel than the Rams. Don’t be shocked if still valuable Pete stays in the organization upstairs. Great run Pete! You’re a Hall-of-Famer. Always a Trojan. Ironically, former Trojan QB, now excellent announcer Mark Sanchez (totally shocked at the news) called Pete’s last game… Read more »
Assuming he doesn’t flip back again to GA (which is basically already loaded at QB), what does adding well-regarded 6-4, 220-pound UNLV Portal QB Jayden Maiava mean for USC? Nothing but good… Antonio Morales (The Athletic) — Lincoln Riley spoke of potentially adding two quarterbacks in the transfer portal after losing Caleb Williams and Malachi Nelson. Riley wanted to target both a younger quarterback and an experienced one. Well, Maiava fills both needs with three years of eligibility for USC. He didn’t open the season as UNLV’s starter but was thrust into the lineup in Week 3 and led the Rebels to a 7-2… Read more »
It sure sounds like USC has gotten their recruiting together. These are two huge gets and to flip a player from GA is huge for Riley. NIL must be really coming together.
Former UNLV QB Jayden Maiava (6-4, 220, Honolulu, Hi) flips commitment from Georgia to USC Maiava, with three years of eligibility left, committed to USC earlier today after announcing for Georgia on Monday night. Greg Biggins (USCFootball.com) — Maiva took official visits to both programs over the last week. We know it was an agonizing decision for Maiva and he went back and forth a few times between the Dawgs and Trojans. USC head coach Lincoln Riley was pretty relentless in his recruitment of Maiava and was able to get the quarterback on the phone this morning. Maiava and his family loved the visit… Read more »
2024 Transfer Football Team Rankings
USC has now moved up to 247Sports’ #7 spot, trailing OLE MISS, A&M, CU, LOUIS, FSU and MO.
A&M DT transfer DT Isaiah Raikes (6-2, 330, Richland, NJ) is USC’s latest addition (#11) and moves into a huge need position — a heavyweight space-eater in the middle to anchor for new DC Lynn. Raikes, a 3-star prep, had 17 tackles, 3.0 TFLs, and 1.0 sacks last season.
247sports.com
And flips Miaiva from Georgia to USC for the badly needed backup QB.
See above! Nice get.
Key info — “A big thing for Maiava was the opportunity to compete for playing time right away and he was told it will be an open competition in the Spring.”
I remember USC had a linebacker named Kaluka Maiava around 2006-2008. At that time the Trojans had a great linebacking group with Brian Cushing, Rey Malaluga, and Clay Matthews as I recall. So I’m wondering if Jayden and Kaluka are related.
https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/2023/12/24/usc-has-nine-fewer-blue-chip-signees-than-oregon-for-the-2024-cycle/ I just found this article on Trojan Wire. I’m extremely happy with some of these transfers we’ve gotten especially the DL from A&M huge score for us. Obviously we need to win to bring in elite recruits. However one thing that this article discusses is SC’s NIL program vs other schools and that does not sit to well as a fan. Maybe I’m not reading the article right but if we are not willing to pay for as many blue chip players as other elite programs then what is the point of moving to a more competitive conference than… Read more »
247Sports lists 32 5* players. What does it take to get them? All of them will get several up front 6 figure NIL deals. Then it comes down to coaches success, program success, and “dream school”. Some of these guys will be mercenaries and go for the $s. They will leave for the next pay day. Some will be Malachi Nelsons, too distracted by the $s to put in the work. Finally some will be the guys that win a championship. In the long run SC’s plan to get 4* guys hungry to work, prove themselves, be Trojans and let… Read more »
My only point is if we’re not keeping up with Jones in NIL regardless of what we currently have to offer as attraction to recruits then you are not showing the willingness to win. Still have to use NIL to build an attractive place for players to want to come. Not saying that performance is not a key factor as well as coaching, but times have changed and you got pay to play. Paying and development equals performance. I get that it’s along road as fan, but guess what it’s gonna be longer to build a program if you are… Read more »
What the best strategy is only time will tell. Surely you need the 5* guys to win championships. How best to use your time and money to get them is still working its way out. I have seen stats in the past that show a high % them get to the NFL but some are a bust. I wonder if NIL will increase the number that go bust? Football is the ultimate team sport. I would rather have a team of 4*s all working together than a bunch of 5*s just out for themselves.
All I know is one thing who stays on your team longer Transfers of HS recruits? Who do I have better chemistry with transfers or guys I’ve had all 4 years. Controlling state HS recruits and paying them is more important than paying transfer players. Maybe not in the beginning because you are building, but in the end State recruits are more important than transfers and that is where we are failing and letting teams out bid us for those players when you need to keep them at home.
“What does it take to get them”? $$$$$$$$$$$$$
Reading this article you get the impression Lynn is going to succeed in building the Trojan defense no matter the obstacle. If he has to, he will battle for every scholarship he can swipe away from LR for the defensive side and that is what is needed here. A DC that won’t accept “no”! And he won’t accept failure.
I’m so glad Lynn is now a Trojan. He’s on a straight line to greatness, just as his sister predicts. Total home run hire by LR. In one single season, Lynn completely and immediately transformed generally soft UCLA into a hard-tackling bunch that could kick USC around with little problem. We hammered UCLA and began the long delayed, but proper rebuild of the Trojan D at the same time. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hold onto him as I suspect he’ll follow his dad’s trail to the NFL — where you don’t need to recruit 24/7.… Read more »
Why didn’t LR see the apparent problem after the 2023 cotton bowl? Can’t believe he was that misguided….
There’s no benefit to playing the “what if” game, it’ll only make you more disgruntled. But allow me to do it anyway. Specifically, what if we had fired Grinch after the Tulane debacle and hired Lynn instead of the bRuins? I’m thinking we probably would’ve been in the playoffs instead of Washington. The whole season would’ve been different, ours, and ucla’s. There is certainly a consensus that we wasted a full year of not just spinning in place, but actually regressing in most areas while squandering the last year of a generationally talented QB. LR must never have heard of… Read more »
Yeah, you’re right, VT. I am feeling really disgruntled. 😂
Here’s a theory, LR and Grinch are close friends, their wives are close friends. He wanted to give his friend another year and with some more talent maybe the defense would be good enough. And then there is the “Happy wife, happy life”.
This season will burned in my memory for watching the most confused bunch of defensive players I have ever witnessed on a football field.
“…confused…players…on a football field.” That was the full extent and perfect description of our defense.