Lincoln Riley focused on UCLA, but gives thoughts on defensive coordinator hiring process

It’s already locked in as a disappointing season for USC. The Trojans began the 2023 season with visions of competing for a national championship and instead sit in fifth place in the Pac-12 heading into their season finale. The major move has been made as Lincoln Riley dismissed defensive coordinator Alex Grinch earlier this month following USC’s loss to Washington. How that position gets filled and the effect it has on the Trojans is likely the most important aspect facing the program right now.

But Riley also knows that loss to UCLA on Saturday would add an entirely new level of misery to the season, for the players, coaches and fans. He said following Grinch’s firing that he would devote 99% of his energy to finishing out the year with the team and the remainder thinking about the defensive coordinator. He’s stuck to that this week when he was asked during Thursday’s media session about what he’s looking for in the next USC defensive coordinator.

Riley concluded his answer by saying, “I want to keep the focus on this weekend.”

But he did provide a bit of insight as to how he’s thinking about the position, adding that USC doesn’t plan to drag its feet with the hiring process, but the bye following this week does give them just a bit of extra time.

“I think there’s there’s a lot of depth to that answer,” Riley said, unwilling to give clues to the type of coach he will target.

He said having two seasons under his belt at USC and with an understanding of where the program sits gives him a better idea of what’s needed at the position.

“I think there’s just a lot more clarity now,” Riley said. “You come into this job and you know there’s a lot of great things about it. You know there’s gonna be challenges just like every other job and you sometimes don’t know what all those are until you get boots on the ground and you go through it a little bit. And I think now having been through it and kind of knowing where we’re at, I definitely have a lot more clarity on it.”

When Riley came to USC from Oklahoma, he clearly placed a premium on continuity and working with familiar faces. Grinch, strength coach Bennie Wylie and wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons came to Los Angeles immediately with Riley. Linebackers coach Brian Odom and rush ends coach Roy Manning eventually followed. Defensive line coach Jamar Cain was set to as well before going to LSU instead. And it appeared initially as though offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh could be another Oklahoma coach to come over before he elected to remain with the Sooners. Riley eventually added tight ends coach Zach Hanson, who was an offensive analyst under Riley at Oklahoma in 2019.

It figured a new defensive coordinator would have plenty of say in his assistants, but how that shakes out is still to be seen. USC was the rare case this past offseason of a program that did not have a single change in the on-field coaching staff. Riley was asked Thursday about the importance of continuity and familiarity in that coaching group.

“In terms of the staff going forward, I mean, the first piece is going to be, once this game is over, of hiring the coordinator,” Riley said “And then I think, after that, you know, then you start to build it. There are advantages to continuity, of course. I’ve spoken about those for a long time. But it’s got to be, not just the right individual people, but the right combination of people. That to me is the key. And once you get the right combination of people with people in the correct spots, then you start to gain momentum and make progress. That’s where the continuity obviously can be a great thing. It can be an advantage. But it’s got to be right. And so our first job and first priority will be getting the right people and the right combination of people, whether that’s people that are here, whether that’s people that are coming from a different spot. And then certainly any continuity that could provide would be fantastic and hopefully provides a lot of continuity going forward.”

But the immediate future for Riley and USC is all about beating the Bruins. This will be the final home game for a number of USC seniors and it could be the final time quarterback Caleb Williams suits up for the Trojans.

“I really want to keep the focus right now on this,” Riley said. “It’s an important game. It’s a rivalry game. It’s really important to our roster and to our seniors. Obviously, it’s important to this city. And so I’ve been trying to do that with my time.”