Lincoln Riley explains value of adding analysts with experience

Lincoln Riley added some noteworthy analysts to the USC football staff this offseason, and they both have a lot of experience.

Kliff Kingsbury, the former Arizona Cardinals and Texas Tech head coach, is a senior offensive analyst. Meanwhile Greg Brown, the new senior defensive analyst, coached since 1981 in the NFL and college as a defensive coordinator and assistant.

Riley mentioned Brown when talking about the value of analysts at USC.

“It can be really valuable to have a guy like that, that’s extremely experienced, that’s been responsible for the whole thing,” Riley said in the spring. “That comes in, can offer some fresh perspective, a fresh set of eyes, that’s not solely responsible for one position. You know, he’s a really an overall advisor for our defensive staff, for myself. He’s a great set of eyes.

“He’s somebody our defensive coaches can sit in there and bounce ideas back and forth off of and he can give them just an open and honest opinion that’s not tied to one position. Because all coaches are biased just like we all with our kids, like the linebacker coach is always going to see it through the eyes of a linebacker. It’s just how we’re all wired.” 

Basically Riley chalked Brown, and Kingsbury for that matter, as USC analysts who can see the whole picture. Not having those coaches bogged down in one position can really give the staff a fresh perspective.

“And so to have a guy, it’s not tied to any of those that can just really sit there day to day, he can just look at the overall perspective and offer up great ideas,” Riley said. “It’s invaluable but the hard thing is like because we looked at, we vetted several different people on this. It’s hard to find somebody that’s good enough and experienced enough that has the right demeanor to come in. 

“Because there’s also, you got to fit well with the staff. It’s also that you got to fit well within our culture of what we’re trying to build here. Greg really wanted to be here and just blew us away with his experience and his attitude and he’s been a great fit. I think he’s gonna help us.”

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USC goes into 2023 with Pac-12 title and College Football Playoff aspirations after a successful Year 1 under Riley. Perhaps Kingsbury and Brown as USC analysts can help the cause.