Report: North Texas to hire USC assistant Brian Odom as linebackers coach

North Texas is set to hire USC assistant Brian Odom as linebackers coach, the Denton Record-Chronicle’s Brett Vito reported. He served as the Trojans’ inside linebackers coach and associate head coach for defense this past season.

Odom previously worked for Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma from 2019-21 and followed him to USC. Before that, he worked at Missouri as outside linebackers coach from 2017-18 and served as a defensive quality control coach at Washington State from 2015-16.

USC overhauled its defensive coaching staff this offseason after the departure of Alex Grinch late in the 2023 season. The Trojans ranked 10th in the Pac-12 in total defense with 432.8 yards allowed per game and 34.4 points allowed on average.

USC’s struggles on defense were a big part of the Trojans’ 8-5 record a season ago, including five losses in their final six regular season games. During that final stretch, USC allowed 35 or more points in every game except one – a 34-32 loss to Utah, which proved to be Grinch’s final game as defensive coordinator.

As he searched for a replacement Riley turned to UCLA to bring in D’Anton Lynn as USC’s new defensive coordinator. He helped lead a Bruins unit that ranked second in the Pac-12 with 18.4 points allowed per game and a league-leading 301.5 yards allowed in his first year in charge of the defense.

Riley addressed the staff changes during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this month, acknowledging the defense’s struggles in his first two seasons at USC and walked through the process that ultimately led him to bring in Lynn.

“Certainly, you’ve got to play elite-level defense to get it done. We haven’t done that in the first two years here,” Riley said. “I don’t hide from that, but I also don’t hide from the fact that the defensive staff that we just brought in here, I think, is second to none anywhere.

“We started with a bunch of names on the board that we thought were some of the best coaches and best developers in football. For some of these guys to leave some of the situations that they were in to come coach for us here at USC, I think speaks a lot to to the trajectory that they see this program on and what it can become. I think the staff is phenomenal and I can’t wait to get started with this group.”