The USC defensive coordinator search, by all appearances, doesn’t figure to end in the next 24 hours. It looks as though the search will continue at least into Sunday, probably Monday. This is frankly not what a lot of fans had in mind. With Monday (December 4) being the day the transfer portal opens, defensive prospects won’t yet know who USC’s defensive coordinator is. That could prevent USC from maxing out in the portal and serve as a limitation on the 2024 roster.
Yet, USC seems to be intent on waiting a few extra days if it means getting the right guy for the job. Crucially, athletic director Jennifer Cohen told The Los Angeles Times that “We still have conference championship games to be played.” A reasonable person would view that as an indication that USC is considering a coach who is coaching in a conference championship game. The other less likely — but still possible — explanation is that USC thinks another school might target a coach in a conference title game, reshaping the marketplace for other USC defensive coordinator targets.
This much seems clear: The Trojans are waiting on the results of all these conference title games before they make their move. We have to ask ourselves: If they are waiting for the weekend to unfold, which man is likely their main target?
The answer is not 100-percent certain, but one can guess and probably come up with the right answer: Pete Kwiatkowski of Texas, whose Longhorns are playing Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Why Kwiatkowski? For one thing, Texas has done really well this year, going 11-1 and getting a strong performance from its defense while quarterback Quinn Ewers got hurt. The Texas defense has answered the bell in crucial situations this season.
The other detail which jumps off the page with Kwiatkowski is that he coached at the University of Washington when Jen Cohen was the athletic director there. He and head coach Chris Petersen guided the Huskies to the 2016 College Football Playoff and the 2018 Pac-12 championship. So, he is a known entity for Cohen. He coaches at Texas now and would be able to help recruit that state, an obvious selling point for Lincoln Riley. He has familiarity with West Coast recruiting and could help USC compete with Oregon and Washington for recruits in the Big Ten.
Kwiatkowski is probably the answer. Other names people could mention from conference championship weekend: Phil Parker of Iowa, Jesse Minter of Michigan, Ron English at Louisville, Will Muschamp at Georgia. Of those four, only English would seem likely to want to leave. Parker is a loyal Kirk Ferentz guy who shows no indication of wanting to leave Iowa. Minter is getting paid a lot to be Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator at Michigan. Muschamp is in a great situation at Georgia under Kirby Smart.
Pete Kwiatkowski is very likely the man USC is waiting on.
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