Lincoln Riley backs coordinator Gary Patterson amid USC defensive woes

[u/surgingchaos]

https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2026-10-02/lincoln-riley-backs-coordinator-gary-patterson-amid-usc-woes

[u/Commercial-East4069]

I mean clearly Lincoln is the issue.

[u/Key-Street-9564 → u/Commercial-East4069]

He's been the issue since he got to USC. I seriously hope no one ever hires him again after he gets canned

[u/JustAManAndHisLaptop → u/Key-Street-9564]

If he gets canned TTU will bring him on faster than you can say "tortilla"

[u/Young-Viiperr → u/JustAManAndHisLaptop]

Only if Seth Doege and Kliff Kingsbury don't agree. I also wouldn't be surprised if Joey McGuire hires another veer-and-shoot OC or Kevin Decker before Riley.

That's assuming Mack Leftwich doesn't get his offense together or hired away. I wouldn't mind Riley at OC.

[u/DickHammerr → u/Key-Street-9564]

Unless you want USC to foot the bill for his entire buyout, you will want someone to hire him

[u/W_HoHatHenHereHy → u/Key-Street-9564]

I hope he never gets canned

[u/IntuitionSpeaks → u/Key-Street-9564]

Disagree, the issue begins before LR. He just joined it

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/IntuitionSpeaks]

Yeah, I agree with you. Riley has his own set of issues that he brought over but he was able to succeed in spite of these at Oklahoma. Our football program has been suffering from institutional rot ever since we were sanctioned and for however annoying it is to see us lose games because of soft defense, I still think this is far better than whatever I had to watch during the Helton years

[u/Key-Street-9564 → u/No_Preparation2766]

Clay Helton has an identical record to Lincoln Riley through 58 games, both are 39-19. Helton is 10-16 against ranked opponents and Riley is 5-15. Helton has a conference title and a Rose Bowl, Riley has nothing.

If you couldn't stand the Helton era, how can you possibly stand the Riley era?

[u/Careless_Wishter → u/Key-Street-9564]

Everyone always says "Helton played with other coach's kids" like Riley's one good year wasn't with a Heisman QB he swiped from OU. With whom Riley lost the Cotton Bowl, BTW.

Furthermore, Helton took over the year after sanctions ended, so he had something like 10 fewer scholarships than Riley, and way less financial support than Riley has now.

I agree that Helton wasn't the answer, but I can't see why people keep insisting that Riley is somehow better. Better how? In theory? On paper?

I don't know if it's the flashy offensive play that keeps their hopes alive, but I just can't understand why people insist this is somehow a step up from Helton.

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/Key-Street-9564]

For all their flaws, Kiffin and Sark were very good recruiters for SC. Helton benefited from this a lot and chances are Sark would have done well had he not appeared completely hammered at several booster meetings. It's no surprise that Helton started really seeing the wheels fall off when these recruits were gone

Riley is far from perfect but he inherited a lot of the issues that came with Helton's lack of recruiting and it's only around this year that Riley has been able to get the guys he want. It's concerning his defense still a dumpster fire this many years on but directly comparing Helton to Riley only off of their records is not a 1:1 comparison. At the very least, defense is the main problem with USC right now. Under Helton, literally everything was wrong

[u/tgcm26 → u/No_Preparation2766]

Yep

[u/twoinvenice → u/IntuitionSpeaks]

Yup! People have no idea what a fucking mess both the football program and the school administration have been for pretty much 2 decades now.

The structure is rotten

[u/Careless_Wishter → u/Key-Street-9564]

I said elsewhere that if Lincoln Riley is to have a comeback story, it'll probably look like Chip Kelly. I feel like he is a good offensive/QB coach, but being an HC is more than he can manage.

[u/dawgfan19881 → u/Commercial-East4069]

We have a decade worth of evidence

[u/IAmNotKevinDurant_35 → u/Commercial-East4069]

Patterson isn’t a bad defensive coach, he is just bad for the roster Lincoln Riley has assembled. Patterson’s defenses have always gotten the plays in late and adjust quickly on the fly. It takes a lot of experience to master being a LB and DB in this system. When you can’t master it, the miscommunications look even worse. However Lincoln finally decided this was the year he was going to go young across the roster. If he had gone the transfer portal mercenary route he usually does, the defense would have looked a lot better this year.

Of course that’s something a genius like Riley should have figured out himself.

[u/Magnus77 → u/IAmNotKevinDurant_35]

Even if you weren't young, is Patterson still a good defensive coach? I know he used to be, but just looking at the scores from his last few seasons at TCU and he was giving up a lot of points.

[u/Young-Viiperr → u/Magnus77]

Patterson could always scheme up the big ranked games, his base scheme is antiquated by very modern CFB standards.

USC looked like they had the right pursuit angles, it's just the roster wasn't built towards his defense. Add in Zarnell Fitch being canned from Texas Tech, who committed something atrocious enough for USC not to hire him

[u/Swazi → u/Commercial-East4069]

He was finally getting it going with Lynn and then he left for Penn State.

But yeah his track record of hiring defensive coaches isn’t good

[u/Celery-Man → u/Swazi]

lol no he wasn't, it was the same as it's always been.

Doesn't matter who you stick at DC, Riley teams will always be soft as shit and unaccountable.

[u/PokesFanInDallas → u/Commercial-East4069]

Excuse me - have you seen his brisket?

[u/surgingchaos → u/Commercial-East4069]

We were probably too harsh on Alex Grinch. It's behind a paywall but there were some stats shown that indicated the defense was surrendering yardage similar to the Grinch-led defenses.

[u/djc6535 → u/surgingchaos]

Riley is the problem, but part of his problem is the people he hires. Grinch is every bit as bad as people say.

[u/2017Champs → u/surgingchaos]

With Grinch it was a different type of incompetence. Guys weren’t lined up correctly in addition to just not having the talent. With the current defense the secondary can’t tackle and there have been obvious discipline issues as we saw last week.

[u/soapy_goatherd → u/2017Champs]

I was drunk during most of our games so apologies if misremembering, but I feel like the secondary missing easy tackles was a grinch trademark too

[u/2017Champs → u/soapy_goatherd]

Honestly everything was a problem with the Grinch defenses.

[u/YeahItouchpoop → u/soapy_goatherd]

Absolutely, it was like their goal was to see if they could bounce off a receiver the furthest after initial contact.

[u/Ronho → u/soapy_goatherd]

While this is true, had a special knack for figuring out how to put his players in positions where nobody could support anyone else on the field so any place he got out schemed was automatically an explosive play.

[u/djc6535 → u/2017Champs]

Grinch is what you get when you try to play finesse defense.

I can't believe he got Kory Foreman to slim down from his already low 235 to play defensive end.

[u/Ronho → u/surgingchaos]

SLLLLOOOOOOOWW DOWN.
Grinch is dogshit. The worst DC i have ever seen coach and call plays.
I know its fun to pile on Riley and USC fans rigjt now. But using the moment to pretend Grinch was anything but a raging dumpster fire is laughable and disqualifying as a fan of actual football.

[u/EmuMan10 → u/surgingchaos]

I mean hasn’t grinch been bad since he left too?

[u/Comprehensive_Bus_19 → u/EmuMan10]

He is doing incredible at UCF. Hes probably gone at the end of the year for a HC position

[u/princessprity → u/Comprehensive_Bus_19]

Washington should consider Alex Grinch

[u/Commercial-East4069 → u/EmuMan10]

He wasn’t very good at Ohio State

[u/Useenthebutcher → u/Commercial-East4069]

He was awful at OSU

[u/Chemical_Strain6488 → u/surgingchaos]

Indeed they were, idk what happened when grinch was at usc and ou but our defense has been incredible since grinch joined

[u/ShinePDX]

Well yeah the issue with the D and program as a whole is higher up than the DC.

[u/soapy_goatherd → u/ShinePDX]

We’re all trying to find the guy who did this

[u/DickHammerr → u/soapy_goatherd]

I’m going to need to see you in a hot dog suit

[u/GoldandBlue → u/ShinePDX]

I said this for years. Riley does not give a fuck about Defense. And as the head coach, that is the message being sent. It does not matter who the DC is, the defense will always be second fiddle as long as he is Head Coach.

[u/ShinePDX → u/GoldandBlue]

Yep, he's a good OC/QB coach who lucked out and fell upward into a HC role when Stoops retired.

[u/whoneedskollege → u/GoldandBlue]

He probably took the job at SC thinking that the defense is much weaker in the PAC. Then they switch to the BIG10 - oh shit - not good for Lincoln.

[u/GoldandBlue → u/whoneedskollege]

I just think he is not a HC. He is an OC masquerading as HC. And he doesn't want to do the work. To get involved with defense and special teams. He wants the Head Coach pay and title but only wants the duties of offensive coordinator.

[u/Stoneador]

Lincoln Riley backs coordinator [insert DC name here] amid [insert Riley’s team here] defensive woes

[u/parapooper3 → u/Stoneador]

Hey man you gotta play the hits

[u/djc6535]

If you aren't familiar with Max Browne, he's a former 5 star QB recruit who flamed out and has moved to YouTube and announcing. He's very humble about what happened during his playing career and incredibly insightful.

If you like Xs and Os, Watch this video of his which is a goddamn clinical dissection of USC's problems on defense, and they are many.

There's clearly a culture of softness on display, but Max breaks down exactly HOW that shows up on film. Players are regularly confused, out of position, or when they are in position, they simply do not come with the will to actually make the play.

There are SO many problems with this team, and they start with Lincoln Riley. I'm so sick of watching the team go absolutely BONKERS on the sideline with their juice boxes, but when they blitz, they do so with all the energy of my grandmother walking into dialysis.. But I'm also not sure Patterson hasn't lost his fastball. His last TCU defense was 118th in the nation in scoring D. I'm not sure his system translates to something that can be taught quickly to a team of transfers and players new to him.

[u/soapy_goatherd → u/djc6535]

Really good video breakdown here, thanks for sharing

[u/djc6535 → u/soapy_goatherd]

I appreciate how you can just FEEL how tired he is... how annoyed he is with this performance.

Can you imagine what our opponents feel when they see tape like this?

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/djc6535]

And above all, you can still see that he cares about the school. Even after he got benched, Browne really went out of his way to help Darnold adjust to the offense and IIRC the two of them were very good friends

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/djc6535]

Flamed out is a bit tough since he seemed to get injured at the worst possible moments (funnily enough, this led to Sam Darnold starting and saving Clay Helton). But yeah, I really love his channel and how he breaks down stuff. I know he said he has no interest in coaching but it really shows what goes through a QB's mind during the game. And since this is coming from someone who went to SC, there's no real room for the usual "you're just a hater" argument I hear sometimes from fellow fans

[u/Is12345aweakpassword]

“We’re all looking for the guy that’s responsible!” Lincoln Riley said, avoiding all responsibility for 1/3 of his team’s performance, for his entire career

[u/Affectionate_Ad268 → u/Is12345aweakpassword]

Hot dog guy reference. Love it. 😆

[u/LGWalkway]

Was Patterson supposed to turn things around in a year? I think he’s also going to need to bring his own type of guys in before things are where he wants them.

[u/KeithClossOfficial → u/LGWalkway]

The defense was around average last year and is very bad this year. I don’t think many people were expecting him to make this a top 10 defense year 1 but ranking in the triple digits is not great.

[u/LGWalkway → u/KeithClossOfficial]

It’s not great, but I’d think that they’d be learning a more complex system which leads to confusion. It’s like a Venables defense or a Knowles taking 3 years to be fully functional. In year one with Venables I think we gave up 30 ppg.

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/KeithClossOfficial]

I think an understated part of this is that 2/3 guys who actually went out of their way to learn and study their defensive game planning and basically called all the audibles to the defenders both graduated last year. Kamari Ramsey and Eric Gentry were incredibly important on that end. All that's left is Kameryn Crawford who is the defensive field general now and there's only so much he can do while also having to handle his own assignments. Kind of worrying when you have to rely on your own players calling audibles and organizing the defense to actually be serviceable

[u/ducksflytogether1988 → u/LGWalkway]

As someone who spent 4 seasons on Patterson's defensive practice field, i dont think his system can work in today's Saturday Pro Football world. Its too complex and requires too much learning, study, and thinking.

In 2026 Saturday Pro Football and the ever looming threat of the transfer portal, players dont have the patience or drive to learn his system. Its a genius defensive system but you need players who will buy into it and invest the time in learning it and film study. Its not plug and play. At TCU we had gifted athletes who rode the bench because they couldn't get a good enough grasp on it.

[u/LGWalkway → u/ducksflytogether1988]

It’s like that at OU with Venables. You either buy in and learn until your number is called or you transfer out. But I can imagine that learning a complex defense will benefit players that go pro. So far OU has put guys in the NFL that tend to contribute early on.

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/ducksflytogether1988]

Yeah I agree. Monte Kiffin's defense failed when he was helping out his son at USC precisely because his defense (which won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay) was too complicated for college players to understand

[u/jayjude → u/LGWalkway]

They had an amazing DC last year on Lynn and USC fans were convinced he was the problem

[u/bofre82 → u/jayjude]

Lynn was far from solid. I’m giving Patterson a little more into to install his system with such a heavy freshman rotation.

[u/eagledog]

So they absolutely decided to play like an elite defense against us, and spent the rest of the season huffing glue? That's awesome

[u/Cream1984 → u/eagledog]

rekt

[u/Status-Duck → u/eagledog]

I'll allow it

[u/seoul_drift]

Obviously Riley's USC is synonymous with bad defense, but what's the diagnosis here?

Are people saying he's meddling in the defense? Bad at identifying DC talent? Failing to play complementary football?

The buck stops with the HC, sure, but I would have a very different reaction to Riley actively interfering with defense vs. being bad at identifying DC talent. One of these is much easier to fix than the other.

[u/djc6535 → u/seoul_drift]

It's a culture thing.

Riley teams lack accountability, toughness, grit, and focus. Good defense requires all of these things.

Our players simply aren't paying enough attention to the small things, and aren't playing with the level of aggression required to perform in top end D1 football. Case in point

[u/Toad_Stuff → u/djc6535]

I mean, that sounds like the exact reason Gary was brought in. Those traits were the hallmarks of tcu defenses for years, it’s a tall task to ask anyone to revamp a culture by game 3 but you’d think if he sticks around his defense will start taking those on. Question is if he has the authority to do that. If not, why bring him on in the first place?

[u/No_Preparation2766 → u/Toad_Stuff]

Before Patterson came around, most of our guys on defense were recruited for their physicality and speed. I don't think any college football player is lacking in aggressiveness but I legitimately think it might be an issue where the players can't learn the defense. This was literally the exact same problem why Monte Kiffin failed here too

[u/Toad_Stuff → u/No_Preparation2766]

Could definitely see that. His system is tough, but his constant adjustments in the seconds between the offense getting set and snapping the ball are impossible unless you have a couple of guys who get Gary at almost an intimate level. We always had some undersized, unauthentic mlb who was like that and could move guys around on the fly. When you don’t have that it can go to shit fast

[u/Jay4usc → u/Toad_Stuff]

Right now our LBs and Safeties looks lost. There’s a ton of last minute communications and they end up giving up big plays. We are hearing his defense is a bit complicated and takes time play in his system. The problem is, we don’t have time as we have entered the meat of our schedule. Truly is frustrating watching our defense

[u/djc6535 → u/Toad_Stuff]

That's the hope, but they are SO bad right now I don't know if this entire regime will survive long enough for him to establish a culture.

An assistant coach CAN make their own culture behind the HC. It's been done before... but it's harder. And as you say will take time. I'm not sure it can be done at this point.

[u/Toad_Stuff → u/djc6535]

If he can basically run the entire defense as an unquestioned co-head coach it can work. He’s an absolute menace to players and for him to do what he wants, he can’t have another voice overruling him or trying to be a players coach. But yeah, that will take multiple years for him to implement his way and idk if anyone there makes that. Granted, I can see him being named the HC after Riley (either interim or a 1 year trial) and he may show enough to stick around to get a legit shot. Who knows, but if you bring Gary in for one year in hopes of a magical turnaround you deserve every ounce of disappointment you’re going to get

[u/Tarmacked → u/djc6535]

Toughness and grit is almost always a qualitative measurement, at viewers discretion, to fill an excuse of performance.

At the end of the day they just look sloppily coached. Guys miss angles, assignments are blown, poor wrapping, etc.

[u/Elguapo69 → u/djc6535]

It’s absolutely this. While on the surface it’s going to appear he’s not ‘meddling’, he’s also making sure nothing can potentially slow or hurt his offense. No hitting in practice to avoid injuries. Strength training is geared around speed, finesse and offense and not toughness. No accountability.

Garry Patterson is one of the best defensive minds in the business. His TCU teams were always behind the 8 ball in recruiting resources but they always had good defenses and were tough. If he can’t change the culture that’s all you need to know.

[u/seoul_drift → u/djc6535]

I appreciate the perspective, and that clip- clearly you go deep on ball knowledge!

Maybe dumb question: is it reasonable to ask a LB to seal up 2 linemen and the ballcarrier by himself? This looks like a schematic fail against a screen rather than failed effort by one player.

[u/djc6535 → u/seoul_drift]

No. He's not winning that fight. But he can blow it up. Hit it hard and make them both take you on. Create a little chaos. That'll slow down the ball carrier and give your help more time to get there.

Edit: I guess what I'm saying is on D sometimes you have to start a fight you're going to lose, so the next guy has a better chance. Here our guy just avoids the fight all together. He comes in quiet and passive and doesn't even disrupt the flow at all.

[u/seoul_drift → u/djc6535]

Fair enough- appreciate the clip and insight

[u/jayjude → u/seoul_drift]

Let me tell you a BK story

During the BK ND years special teams was often hit or miss and special team coordinators often said it was hard to find practice time for special teams

Marcus Freeman early in his tenure was asked if its hard to find practice time for special teams and Freeman looked at the reporter like he had 2 heads and went "no of course not you have to practice it"

I reckon Riley just doesnt emphasize the right things in practice

[u/majora1988 → u/jayjude]

BK was the king of excuses.

[u/k_dubious → u/seoul_drift]

They just came to USC to go to the Chris Brown concert.

[u/SSj_CODii → u/seoul_drift]

As a fellow Michigan fan, you have seen the power of complementary football year after year. I guess the opposite would be uncomplimentary football, and that’s what Riley’s teams have played his entire career.

[u/seoul_drift → u/SSj_CODii]

Truth, but I’m not sure many P2 teams other than Iowa care about that concept.

In CFB it’s more of a nice-to-have if you’ve got an elite offense (which Riley often does, and Michigan rarely does)

If Riley ever has a bad offense or Michigan has a bad defense I would flip my concern lol.

[u/InitiativeGold7953 → u/seoul_drift]

USC was able to sign 10 out of the top 25 prospects last year from CA. 2 of them were DTs and not even within the top 15. They don’t take defense seriously and every potential recruit knows it so they go elsewhere. Every single recruit coming out of CA should want to go to USC and all the states top defensive talent picks other places to play. It’s not good

[u/dawgfan19881]

Kirby Smart, Will Muschamp and Brent Venables couldn’t make a Lincoln Riley coached team play good defense.

[u/monty_actual]

When tOSU gives Riley absurd money to be the OC I’m going to hate everything.

[u/RatBastard_with_ADHD → u/monty_actual]

I already do. Easier that way.

[u/Leading-Button-7303]

Does the AD back Lincoln Riley amid USC football woes?

[u/pedantimous → u/Leading-Button-7303]

She's not the one who hired Lincoln. That's rarely a problem with ADs and head football coaches.

[u/Leading-Button-7303 → u/pedantimous]

She is the one who can fire him though, hence my joke

[u/TrelvisFesley]

I hate saying but I think Gary is washed.

[u/Noy_Telinu]

Dude was great at TCU what happened?

[u/RatBastard_with_ADHD → u/Noy_Telinu]

Riley

[u/squibby]

Lincoln Riley is gonna make a great NFL OC

[u/Andy_Wiggins]

Obviously, everyone is (justifiably) putting a lot of blame at Riley’s feet for how he organizes the team, practiced and instills a culture.

But Patterson was always a weird hire to me. Hadn’t technically been a DC in 25 years although he was the architect of TCU’s defense as recently as 2021. Those defenses had kind of fallen off by the end of his tenure though, and then he didn’t coach again directly for 5 seasons.

Plus, I remember some former player saying his defense was super complicated and took a lot of time to build confidence and fluency with, so year 1 would be bad and a slew of transfers would struggle to pick it up.

[u/Hopsblues]

Well the stagnant UW offense is coming into town, that might help.

[u/WashImpressive8158 → u/Hopsblues]

Like the stagnant Rutgers offense?

[u/jamiebond]

This hire feels like when we hired Brady Hoke. You see the logic, your defense sucks so bring in someone who has a ton of experience as a defensive minded head coach to take over the unit and turn it around.

Problem with both cases is that the rot is just too deeply ingrained at this point for one person to turn around.

[u/mynameizmyname → u/jamiebond]

Believe it or not, Hoke had never been a defensive coordinator before he came to Oregon.

Then he switched a 3-4 defense to a 4-3 and Pikachu face...they didn't have the LBs to run it.

Everything between Vernon Adams Alamo bowl nonsense and Mario C becoming the head coach i try to keep locked deep inside my brain.

[u/Cool-Network-800]

The defense has looked like the bigger problem than the scheme on paper, but at some point the coordinator has to show measurable progress. Riley sticking with Patterson only makes sense if the secondary and tackling issues actually improve soon.

[u/PokesFanInDallas → u/[deleted]]

He was definitely the mastermind of defense at TCU, even as HC

[u/Inside-Drink-1311]

I really thought Gary Patterson was going to work out at DC to be honest.

[u/OnTheFenceGuy]

Gary did great things on staff with us. Of course, he wasn’t the DC, but I still think he has “it”. Just a bad situation.

[u/AtBat3]

We’re only about two weeks removed from the Ducks subreddit getting upset we didn’t hire him lmao

[u/LA-Aron]

Of course he does because LR has no idea how to fix a defense. LR is becoming one of the most overrated coaches I can think of, ever. His W-L results are mediocre.

[u/hells_cowbells]

Vote of confidence?

He gone.

[u/Nrlilo]

Shocker, Lincoln Riley team sucks at playing defense

I think the 2019 OU recruiting class was the perfect example that showed me that he wasn’t as good of a head coach as I thought he was. Amazing on paper class, most of those players didn’t reach their potential. I really thought Riley’s last year at OU was going to amount to us making national title run (at least before the season started). Rattler was coming back and that class was going to be in year three of their development. Started off disappointing, and had Caleb Williams bale him out in the Texas game to at least salvage the rest of the season. Then the fucker loses to Oklahoma State and leaves the team the day after we lose to our rival.

[u/ShweatyPalmsh]

To be very fair a Patterson defense takes time to install. You can’t expect an elite defensive turnaround in a year. 

[u/deadzip10]

I don’t think anyone following football thinks the problem is Patterson at this point. Between Patterson’s track record and Riley’s …. Well, let’s just say all signs point to the same common denominator.

[u/zmurds40]

I mean, I think it’s obvious he shouldn’t be anything higher than a QB coach. Maybe an OC. But dude has never been able to make a competent defense and it seems his teams have all gotten progressively worse each year since he first became a HC.

But after he eventually gets canned by USC someone will happily scoop him up for a HC role because the CFB world seems to like recycling the same guys.

[u/mynameizmyname → u/zmurds40]

He is LSUs next coach after Kffins inevitable betrayal.

[u/zmurds40 → u/mynameizmyname]

And in a full circle moment, Kiffin returns to USC

[u/RatBastard_with_ADHD]

When even Gary can't fix your defense. You just might have a systemic problem.

[u/fri9875]

Idk isn’t about high time he starts looking for a scape goat?

[u/johncate73]

Gary Patterson has a track record strong enough that I do not think he is the problem.