USC has tabbed former TCU head coach Gary Patterson as its next defensive coordinator, multiple insiders reported on Thursday. It’s Patterson’s first coordinating gig since his ouster from Fort Worth in 2021.
Patterson, who began his coaching career at Kansas State under Jim Dickey in 1982, served short stints at Texas as a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian for the 2022 season and at Baylor as a consultant in 2024.
The Trojans are coming off a 9-4 (7-2 Big 10) finish in 2025, the program’s best finish under Lincoln Riley since his 11-win inaugural campaign in 2022. Patterson replaces D’Anton Lynn, now at his alma mater, Penn State.
Former Big 12 rivals, Riley’s Oklahoma offenses typically clashed with Patterson’s disruptive 4-2-5 defense during a 6-0 Sooners run during the coaches’ tenures in what now feels like the old guard of the Big 12. That 2017 season saw Oklahoma defeat TCU twice, 38-20 during the regular season and again 41-17 in that year’s conference championship game in Arlington.
Patterson will get to work with two quality safeties, junior Christian Pierce and Kennedy Urlacher, right out of the gate. The former TCU coach is well-versed in split secondaries, and is a strong call to improve the Trojans’ nickel defense.
USC picking up Patterson gives yet another former Big 12 head coach their start elsewhere since Dana Holgorsen, who spent seven years at West Virginia and another four at Houston, stepped in as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator beginning with the 2024 season.
