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USC is turning to its crosstown rival to fill a key vacancy as the Trojans will hire UCLA defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn to the same position, according to 247Sports. Lynn oversaw a Bruins defense that ranked atop the Pac-12 and finished 11th among all FBS teams during the 2023 regular season, holding opponents to 299 yards on average.
Lynn, 34, was in his first season on coach Chip Kelly’s UCLA staff after spending much of the past decade as an NFL assistant for various franchises, most recently the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans. He now fills a position on coach Lincoln Riley’s USC staff that opened midseason when the Trojans fired second-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch amid ongoing issues with the defense letting them down in key games.
USC ended the regular season outside top 100 nationally among FBS teams both overall and in scoring, allowing 438.8 yards and 34.92 points per game on average. It negated a potent offense that was headlined by quarterback and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams as the Trojans finished 7-5, a career-worst for Riley as a head coach. Grinch had served as Riley’s defensive coordinator since 2019 when Riley was still at Oklahoma. Riley brought Grinch with him to USC when he took the Trojans coaching job in November 2021.
Lynn’s crosstown change of scenery comes as USC and UCLA prepare to leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten in 2024. The Trojans and Bruins will be joined by conference foes Oregon and Washington as they make that move,…
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