Doug Belk replaced Donte Williams at USC, becoming the new coach for the Trojans’ secondary. Donte Williams was a great recruiter, but his actual coaching did not give USC an edge on Saturdays in the fall. USC’s secondary was a profoundly disappointing position group on a very disappointing 2023 football team.
Doug Belk comes to USC from Houston, where he was the defensive coordinator under coach Dana Holgorsen. Belk is part of a defensive staff which gave up bigger roles and responsibilities to come to USC to join Lincoln Riley.
Matt Entz was a head coach — and a national champion — at North Dakota State. He gave that up to be linebacker coach for Riley and USC. Belk gave up a Power Five coordinator job to become a position coach at USC.
There’s a lot to talk about regarding Belk. Let’s begin that conversation by giving you a small sample of the reaction to his hiring, plus some analysis of why Belk is going to fit in nicely at USC: