LOS ANGELES — Two months ago, amid a head-coaching search that eventually led back to Scott Frost, The Athletic reported that UCF had poked around at USC’s Lincoln Riley.
But on National Signing Day in December, when asked what he told those inquiring about links to other jobs, Riley simply chuckled and waved a dismissive hand.
“I tell ’em, I’m a USC Trojan,” Riley said then. “This is – I’m at the place I want to be. So, that’s, it’s a non-starter, it’s a non-issue.”
That quickly buried any notion of Riley looking around for greener pastures. And USC’s head coach packed those one-time UCF whispers 10 feet under Tuesday, snatching one of UCF’s top assistants to fill out a staff that’s come together impressively in recent months.
In comes Trovon Reed, a one-time NFL cornerback who made a splash last season on the Knights’ staff in his first true year as an FBS position coach. Reed, as Reese’s Senior Bowl director and longtime NFL scout Jim Nagy tweeted in January, was the only defensive backs coach in college football with two cornerbacks (Mac McWilliams and BJ Adams) in the 2025 Senior Bowl.
“A rising star in our business, Reed is a talented coach with NFL playing experience,” Riley said in a USC statement. “He’s an exceptional recruiter who will surely contribute to our climb as a program.”
Indeed, before he was a coach at UCF, Reed spent 2021-2023 as Auburn’s director of football and recruiting relations, signing two five-stars and finishing with the eighth-ranked overall recruiting class in college football in 2024. As USC has increasingly looked to the South for high school prospects in Riley’s tenure, with 11 of the Trojans’ 21 2025 signees coming from states in the Southern region, Reed strengthens already-deep Southern ties on Riley’s staff.
He’ll bring another dosage of pro experience, too, spending a few years bouncing around NFL practice squads and playing six games with the Chargers in 2016. Suddenly, USC can advertise NFL ties at virtually every point of its coaching staff. Defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn is a former Ravens safeties coach; defensive line coach Eric Henderson held the same position with the Rams; and recently hired linebackers coach Rob Ryan is a longtime NFL assistant. And now Reed with the cornerbacks.
Reed’s hire will simply supplement USC’s staff and isn’t a replacement for current defensive backs coach Doug Belk, who remains in his role, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Southern California News Group. Reed’s addition will likely solidify USC’s coaching staff for 2025-26, Riley’s third outside hire of the offseason along with Ryan and inside-receivers coach Chad Savage.