USC football is expected to hire former longtime TCU head coach Gary Patterson as its next defensive coordinator, according to multiple reports on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
Patterson, 65, was most recently a consultant at Baylor in 2024 and was also a special assistant to the head coach at Texas in 2022. He led the Horned Frogs from 2000-21, leading the program from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA, then to the Mountain West before joining the Big 12, their current conference, in 2012.
Patterson, the school’s winningest coach by a wide margin, had six finishes in the top 10 of the US LBM Coaches Poll in his tenure. He went 11-6 in bowl games, with a Rose Bowl and a Peach Bowl win.
His 2010 squad finished 13-0 and was No. 2 in the final Coaches Poll, ahead of national championship runner-up Oregon. TCU went 12-1 in 2014 and narrowly missed out on a College Football Playoff bid in controversial fashion, leading to the Big 12 bringing back its conference championship game.
Patterson replaces D’Anton Lynn, who left to be the defensive coordinator at Penn State.
USC ranked 49th nationally in total defense in 2025, allowing an average of 350.8 yards per game. It also ranked tied for 48th in turnovers forced, with 18 on the season.
The Trojans came in at No. 12 in USA TODAY’s way-too-early rankings for 2026. They return numerous starters, including quarterback Jayden Maiava.
Patterson called the defenses at TCU during his tenure as head coach and was previously the school’s defensive coordinator from 1998-2000. Lincoln Riley and USC will soon find out if he still has the coaching chops that made him TCU’s winningest coach in program history.