Lincoln Riley faced a dilemma when his DC D’Anton Lynn returned to his alma mater to join Matt Campbell at Penn State. Should he promote from within or get a coach from outside? Over the last two years, the Trojans’ defense had shown an uptick, and thankfully, the USC head coach found the right guy to take them to the next level in Gary Patterson. As the Hall of Famer returns to college ball, Lincoln Riley reveals the backstory of Patterson’s hiring, sarcastically calling him a ‘psycho.’

“We talked two years ago when the job was open,” Lincoln Riley told On3’s J.D. PicKell on February 10. “But he wasn’t ready to get back into it at that level because anybody that knows Gary knows there’s no halfway with this guy. I mean, he’s just an absolute psycho. When he goes, it is full speed. 

I don’t know that he’s left the office since he’s been in LA. But that’s him. And so, at this point, he was ready to be back in. He was recharged. He is motivated. He’s got an edge and a chip on his shoulder right now. He’s really excited to be at USC, and we’re thrilled to have him.”

Two years ago, Riley was looking for a DC after he fired Alex Grinch in the middle of the 2024 season. At the time, Patterson was in his second year of hiatus after leaving TCU, where he had coached for 21 years. Even during downtime, Patterson kept in touch with the game, serving as a special assistant and consultant at Texas and Baylor. The Trojans’ appointment comes after he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame for the 2026 class.

“As a Hall of Fame coach who is one of the game’s most highly regarded defensive minds, he brings a wealth of success and experience to our program,” Riley said while announcing Patterson as USC’s new DC. “His impact will be immediate, elevating our defense and strengthening the culture we’ve built.”

Riley knows firsthand what a Patterson-led defense can do, having battled his TCU teams in the Big 12. It stands in stark contrast to the Trojans’ own defense, which ranked 51st nationally. Funnily enough, despite the dominance of his 4-2-5 scheme, Patterson never defeated Riley’s Oklahoma teams. He finished 0-6 against the Sooners, and only one of those games was close in 2019 (final score, 28-14).

While there are big expectations brewing for USC’s defense, the new defensive coordinator gave a glimpse of what to expect in the coming season.

Gary Patterson on his working style as USC’s DC

It had been a few years since Coach Gary Patterson was involved in a college football coaching role. While modern football coaching now heavily relies on NIL, he made sure he’d focus only on defense and not get involved in NIL or other matters.

“My job is defense; I don’t deal with NIL. I don’t deal with all those different things,” Patterson said in his introductory speech. “Our goal is to teach the defense to try to get to the level the offense has played here.” 

Since arriving in Southern California, Patterson revealed that he’s been watching film throughout the day. While most wonder whether he could bring the 4-2-5 defense scheme, which worked pretty well at TCU, he stated that there could be more tweaks to his style that better fit the program and modern-day football.

“A lot of people said they could play the 4-2-5 like TCU does, and they don’t,” Patterson said. “Instead of just coming in and saying, ‘Well, this is how we’re going to do it,’ it’s been a little bit more work of trying to put it all together.”

At the end of the day, this needs to work out for Riley as he is on a hot seat, after missing the playoffs this year. Another performance like 2025, and both head coach and DC might be looking for new jobs in 2027.