LOS ANGELES — For a brief moment, the future of USC’s defense in the Lincoln Riley era hung in the balance, with a defensive coordinator uprooted 2,570 miles away in State College, Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, former Penn State DC Tom Allen was formally inked as Clemson’s newest defensive coordinator, leaving a sudden hole for Nittany Lions coach James Franklin. And all signs pointed to Southern California, where former Penn State cornerback Lynn had transformed UCLA’s and then USC’s defense across subsequent one-year stints. The tie made excessive sense; Penn State came after Lynn with an opening after that 2023 season at UCLA, and reached out again to Lynn this week, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
“I know, for him, it wasn’t an easy job to walk away from,” the source told the Southern California News Group.
Lynn, though, is sticking in Southern California, as multiple sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Southern California News Group. USC confirmed on Twitter late Thursday afternoon that Lynn had signed a contract extension; the deal is for multiple years, a source told the Southern California News Group.
“He wants to help Lincoln (Riley) turn that thing around,” the source said of Lynn. “And he feels pretty good about the class they recruited this year, class they recruited last year.”
It’s a trajectory-defining retention for USC, particularly considering Penn State ascended to the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2024 and the Trojans often stumbled across a 7-6 season. In the offseason of 2023, Riley and USC structured an entire defensive staff overhaul on the addition of Lynn, Riley assuring both him and USC’s fan base that the program would do everything it could “to accelerate the process of us playing great defense at USC.”
Lynn’s hire, indeed, accelerated that process, as USC made a significant leap in its overall 2023 output (121st of 133 FBS teams in opponent points-per-game) to 2024 (57th of 134) under its new defensive coordinator. Despite a swath of injuries to key contributors like linebacker Eric Gentry and edge rusher Anthony Lucas, Lynn frequently cobbled together competitive units and generated creative late-down looks, the Trojans’ defense ranking as the 21st-best unit in the country in red-zone conversions in 2024.
“I think the culture, defensively, within our program – has really shifted in a lot of ways,” Riley said in mid-November. “I’m proud of how we progressed schematically. I’m really proud of how we progressed fundamentally, especially in Year One, and that’ll probably make the biggest difference for us.”
The son of longtime NFL coach Anthony Lynn and a product of the NFL coaching ranks, Lynn’s pro-style defense and ability to simplify complex concepts, too, has been praised by a variety of returning players and new faces alike. Take new North Carolina State transfer safety Bishop Fitzgerald, who told the SCNG that Lynn sat him down on a visit this week and played him a variety of clips of simulated pressures and unique looks in the secondary.
“I just feel like, just being in that NFL-style, I’m able to put all that on film, finally,” Fitzgerald said.
USC’s defense has a variety of intriguing pieces entering the fold in 2025, with Louisiana true freshman Jahkeem Stewart and a couple of big defensive tackle bodies in Kentucky transfer Keyshawn Silver and Georgia transfer Jamaal Jarrett. And Lynn knew, entering the job at USC last winter, that a turnaround would take multiple years, as a source said.
He’s now locked in at the hip with Riley, as the two minds attempt to steady their program from a couple of tumultuous seasons.