USC pounces on UCLA dysfunction, poaches D’Anton Lynn from Bruins as new DC

The Trojan Horse was part of a legendary ambush. This wasn’t ancient Greece. It was USC and Lincoln Riley with Jennifer Cohen. The Trojans are reportedly hiring UCLA defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn for their open defensive coordinator position.

Lynn, 34, significantly improved UCLA’s defense this season. The Bruins struggled mostly because of their offense, which languished without Dorian Thompson-Robinson under center. The UCLA defense was a good tackling unit. It limited several opponents under 20 points and a few more under 30.

Pete Thamel of ESPN broke the story. He noted in his initial breaking-news report that UCLA was No. 11 in the country in total defense. The Bruins were No. 89 in the 2022 college football season.

There is a lot to process here. Let’s get started:

FIRST THINGS FIRST

This move is a direct result of the dysfunction which has swallowed up UCLA since Chip Kelly was retained as head coach. Dante Moore entered the transfer portal. Other UCLA players left for the portal. D’Anton Lynn could see this happening. He put two and two together. Lincoln Riley and Jen Cohen sensed an opportunity and pounced.

Shoulda fired Chip, UCLA. That was a miss.

JEN COHEN, POKER PLAYER

When Jennifer Cohen, USC’s new athletic director, told Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times that conference championship games were still to be played, she was either pointing to USC’s next defensive coordinator (as someone coaching in one of those games), or she was putting up a smokescreen.

We have our answer: This was a smokescreen, and a well-executed one. Cohen was up to the task here.

LINCOLN RILEY: SERIOUS ABOUT WINNING

For anyone who doubted whether Lincoln Riley was serious about winning and serious about defense, this should put that to bed. This is a serious hire of a guy with credentials and on-field results. Riley certainly appears to have learned from his Alex Grinch nightmare. Now he has a chance to repair his career … and more importantly, USC.

DOUBLE WIN

USC not only helps itself but hurts UCLA. Double win.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DEFENSIVE RECRUITING

USC needed an elite defensive coordinator to keep Southern California defensive prospects at home. Getting UCLA’s highly regarded defensive coordinator should certainly help a lot. Defensive recruiting should certainly pick up here.

D'ANTON LYNN ON THE TRAIL

D’Anton Lynn, at 34 years of age, is a young and hungry coach with a lot to prove. USC is getting an energetic recruiter as well as a defensive tactician and a player developer. This checks all the boxes for a coordinator.

NEWS CYCLE

Yes, it happened at the last minute — right before the Pac-12 Championship Game between Oregon and Washington began — but USC was able to beat the “weekend rush” and get its hire on board before the weekend. The Trojans now have their man and can be aggressive in pursuing top defensive portal prospects. They needed to do this, and they got the job done.

Would it have been better if this happened on Wednesday or Tuesday? Sure. They did get this finished before Saturday. Still a good outcome.

TIMING

People might wonder why USC couldn’t do this deal sooner and gain even more time in the pursuit of recruits and portal prospects. Fair question. A reasonable answer to that question is that D’Anton Lynn probably felt more secure at UCLA at the beginning of the week, but as players continued to leave over the course of the week, and a bad situation in Westwood got even worse, Lynn might have changed his mind. That would be a reasonable explanation for USC doing this on Friday and not a few days earlier.

OREGON AND WASHINGTON

This move accounts for the reality that Oregon and Washington are joining USC and UCLA in the Big Ten next year. Lynn will recruit for USC instead of UCLA, but he can also recruit in specific battles with Oregon and Washington. West Coast recruiting, in addition to Southern California recruiting, is enhanced by this move.

DEFENSIVE STAFF

D’Anton Lynn brings quality to both defensive tactics and defensive recruiting, but let’s be clear here: The main thing for a coordinator is to master the Xs and Os. Closely attached to that is player development. The coordinator has to be able to coach defense at an elite level. Other guys on staff can be the rock star recruiters. Maybe Lynn can do both — and it seems he might be able to — but what matters most for a defensive coordinator is his coaching chops. Now comes the need to fill out the rest of the defensive staff with recruiting experts.

BOTTOM LINE

This is a home-run hire. It wasn’t what was expected, but it certainly checks nearly every possible box. It’s not technically a Big Ten hire, but it really does cover nearly every other need for USC.

The Bruins really should have fired Chip Kelly. They didn’t, and now they’re stuck.

POSTSCRIPT

UCLA fans are beside themselves, wondering why AD Martin Jarmond didn’t fire Chip Kelly.

One explanation: Jarmond is believed to be in the running for the open athletic director job at Ohio State. That could explain why he didn’t fire Kelly. It brings up the point that UCLA boosters and donors, and other people inside the school, really needed to take over the decision-making process here, but apparently, that didn’t happen, at least not enough to shift the calculus.

USC is glad UCLA couldn’t resolve its internal complications.

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire