The USC Trojans made some big changes to their football program in the offseason. They hired a new defensive coordinator. They hired a new linebacker coach and secondary coach. They brought in Eric Henderson, Aaron Donald’s Super Bowl-winning position coach with the Los Angeles Rams, to coach the defensive line. Alex Grinch and Donte Williams are long gone. Lincoln Riley pivoted from Grinch’s finesse-oriented approach to a more physical style of defense. USC wants to get bigger in the weight room and develop thick, muscular players in ways it wasn’t trying (as hard) to do under the previous regime.
These changes are substantial in both number and content. Yet, for a lot of rival fans or (more broadly) college football fans who have enjoyed rooting against USC, these changes don’t seem to mean much. We’re not even saying or suggesting these fans are wrong, either. We’re merely pointing out that for a lot of people in college football, USC’s coaching changes do not mean the Trojans are about to enjoy a big turnaround. There is lingering skepticism about Lincoln Riley given what we saw in 2023. Winning games, not the coaching changes themselves, will convince rival fans that USC’s culture is now better than it once was.
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