LOS ANGELES — D’Anton Lynn was born into the NFL, his father Anthony Lynn the former head coach of the Chargers. But his introduction to coaching in the NFL, as D’Anton Lynn once said, was Rex Ryan. A slew of influences, since Lynn started in the NFL as an intern with Ryan’s Jets in 2014, have left their mark, like former Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and current Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald.
But it “all comes back to Rex,” Lynn said, upon the USC defensive coordinator’s second time speaking with the media in February.
And faced with a key vacancy on a new-look defensive staff, USC and Lynn have turned back to that Ryan coaching tree – just not Rex. On Saturday morning, USC announced it had hired longtime NFL coordinator and assistant Rob Ryan – Rex’s brother – as its newest linebackers coach, also earning the title of assistant head coach for defense.
“With over two decades of NFL experience, he will immediately bolster our staff as we continue our climb here at USC,” head coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement announcing Rob Ryan’s hire.
In December 2023, upon nabbing Lynn from UCLA, Riley said the program’s “north star” was to build the best defensive staff in America. Just over a year later, the amount of pro-level pedigree on USC’s staff can rival most anyone across the country. Lynn grew for nearly a decade in the NFL, and coached the safeties on a formidable Baltimore Ravens defense before coming to UCLA. Defensive line coach Eric Henderson won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams.
Enter the fiery Ryan, once a coordinator for four NFL teams and a defensive mind who’s coached Pro Bowlers like New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan and former Dallas Cowboys pass-rusher DeMarcus Ware.
It’s Ryan’s first collegiate job since a stint as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator from 1997-99. Since, he has coached the linebackers on multiple Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots teams, coordinated for the Raiders, Browns, Cowboys and Saints, and most recently served for three years as a senior defensive assistant for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Ryan brings immediate cohesion to Lynn’s staff and scheme. Ryan first crossed paths with Lynn under brother Rex’s staff with the Bills in 2016, when the future USC coordinator was a defensive assistant. They reunited for a year with the Ravens in 2021, Ryan the inside linebackers coach and Lynn the safeties coach.
Ryan’s hire was met with a fury of excitement from the program.
“Rob is in the building People, hahaha …,” Henderson tweeted Saturday.
“yuppp,” Eric Gentry wrote on Twitter, adding a couple winking emojis.
Ryan’s work with the returning Gentry will be perhaps his most important job, after the linebacker developed a close bond with former linebackers coach Matt Entz, who left after just a year for a head-coaching job at Fresno State. USC, too, will need Ryan to shine as a developer amid a room thin on proven experience, between rising sophomores Desman Stephens II, Elijah Newby and Jadyn Walker.
All in all, it’s been a bang-up couple weeks for USC’s program. First came the hire of Chad Savage on the offensive staff, a necessary Southern California recruiter. Then came Lynn’s extension Thursday, a necessary retention for the program’s defensive future. Now comes Ryan, a naturally loud complement to Lynn’s scheme and quieter demeanor, the final piece of a USC staff that looks plenty formidable entering a key 2025 season.