USC hires Gary Patterson as defensive coordinator

Connor Morrissette (USCFootball.com)  —  USC has finally hired Gary Patterson as its next defensive coordinator.

Patterson comes to USC with over 40 years of coaching experience, which includes a 22-year run as head coach at TCU. He replaces D’Anton Lynn, who left to take the defensive coordinator job at Penn State, his alma mater, earlier this month.

USC’s defense improved under Lynn, but it didn’t take the step forward in 2025 that its fans had hoped. The Trojans ranked 51st nationally in scoring (23.0 ppg.) and 65th in yards per play allowed (5.6).

The bottom line is USC has struggled defensively since Pete Carroll left for the NFL in January 2010.

Patterson went 181-79 as head coach of TCU, and he was the Horned Frogs’ defensive coordinator for three years before taking over as head coach. Additionally, Patterson has coached defensive backs and linebackers in his career. The program’s backbone was its stalwart defense.

Patterson was the defensive play caller as TCU’s head coach, and he ran a unique 4-2-5 defensive scheme that used a versatile nickelback. Having a nickel that could rush the passer, play as a hybrid linebacker and cover was ahead of its time and confused opposing offenses.

Patterson is well respected for his advanced scouting ability and attention to detail when studying opposing offenses. “You better have something new, because they know everything you’re going to do,” then Texas-Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury said of Patterson.

TCU’s defensive players were known for playing “really, really hard, being in the right positions and being fundamentally sound” under Patterson. Patterson went 0-7 against USC coach Lincoln Riley during their time in the Big 12 when Riley was the head coach or offensive coordinator at Oklahoma.

The Horned Frogs won at least 10 games in 11 seasons with Patterson in charge. Prior to his arrival on campus in 1998, TCU had just four 10-win seasons in its history. Patterson oversaw TCU’s rise from Conference USA to the Mountain West and then into the Big 12 in 2012. TCU made history in 2010 as the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to play in the Rose Bowl during the BCS era. Patterson’s Horned Frogs finished that season 13-0 with a 21-19 win over No. 5 Wisconsin in Pasadena.

But Patterson struggled to adapt to the rise in spread offenses at the end of his tenure at TCU. He also didn’t adjust well to the transfer era, which led to TCU administrators relieving Patterson of his duties eight games into the 2021 season, after four straight subpar campaigns.

Patterson has not coached since that 2021 season. He was a special assistant to Steve Sarkisian at Texas in 2022, then spent 2024 as a consultant at Baylor. Neither of those roles lasted more than one season.

On3’s Andy Staples likes USC’s choice: “I gave Gary Patterson the unofficial ‘Greatest Evaluator of All-Time’ award sometime last year. Turning him loose on the kind of people USC can recruit (out of high school and the portal) could be fun.”

“The story of Gary Patterson and the rise in the fortunes of the TCU football program over the last 20 years is clearly one of the most remarkable in the history of college football. We are grateful to Gary and Kelsey Patterson and appreciate everything they have meant to TCU and the Fort Worth community,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said in a statement after firing Patterson in 2021. “Under his leadership, TCU has become a nationally recognized brand name in football and in collegiate athletics.”

It’s currently unclear how Patterson’s hire will impact USC’s remaining position coaches on defense. More staff changes are possible after secondary coach Doug Belk was told his contract wasn’t being renewed Tuesday, but it’s also possible USC retains every other defensive position coach from last season.

247sports.com

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