Lincoln Riley shares new USC assistants will not gameplan Holiday Bowl

Ever since USC parted ways with defensive coordinator Alex Grinch following their Week 10 loss to Washington many have wondered what the Trojans’ next moves would be as they look to transform their defense.

Head coach Lincoln Riley has already hired three new defensive assistants this offseason and will continue working towards filling out his staff, but he’s also responsible for preparing the Trojans for their Holiday Bowl matchup against Louisville next Wednesday.

But following the team’s practice on Monday, Riley revealed that those worlds will not collide and that none of the new staff members will be helping the team in their bowl preparation.

“No, they’re not gonna be involved any,” Riley said. “I felt like that wasn’t the right thing to do at this point. So they’re around, they have opportunities to see our guys, to come evaluate the practices, to spend some time with our guys off the field to try to get to know them.”

USC’s newest hires may not have their hands on the Trojans’ defensive game plan as the team prepares to take on the No. 15 ranked Cardinals, but Riley made it clear that they are still on-site and in the mix as the season comes to a close.

“Still not finalized on the defensive staff, still a fluid situation, still in the evaluation process there,” Riley said. “But it’s been great to have, Coach [D’Anton] Lynn‘s been here for a little bit and great to have Doug [Belk], great to have Coach [Matt] Entz. Both those guys were here today, today’s their first day, so awesome to have them on campus finally and excited to get going full with them.”

Defense line coach Shaun Nua and linebackers coach Brian Odom have assumed the role of interim co-defensive coordinators following the dismissal of Grinch and will continue to for the Holiday Bowl. But Lynn will take the reigns next season after being named the Trojans’ new defensive coordinator on December 1.

The transition for Lynn was likely an easy one with him staying in Los Angeles, spending last season as UCLA‘s defensive coordinator following his nine seasons in various coaching roles in the NFL.

Entz joins the staff as USC’s assistant head coach for defense and linebackers coach, making the jump to the FBS level after spending the last five seasons at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, where he helped lead the Bison to two FCS national championships. Belk on the other hand takes over as the team’s secondary coach following five seasons as a defensive or co-defensive coordinator at Houston.

The DIRECTV Holiday Bowl kicks off on December 27 at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be airing on FOX.