LOS ANGELES — Lincoln Riley spoke to the local media on Wednesday for the first time since USC’s dramatic comeback win at the Las Vegas Bowl against Texas A&M in late December.
A lot has transpired at USC since, as evidenced by the four new faces who addressed the media after Riley: general manager Chad Bowden, linebackers coach Rob Ryan, inside receivers/tight ends coach Chad Savage and corners coach Trovon Reed. All four of those staffers have joined the program in the past month.
Here are some takeaways from what we heard.
1. Riley acknowledged that USC’s patience was tested during its general manager search. The GM hunt dated back to last summer when USC attempted to hire Alabama general manager Courtney Morgan. Morgan declined and the search stretched into January 2025.
USC talked to a lot of people, and Riley described it as “the most difficult hire” he’s been involved with as a head coach. College football has changed so much in the past three to four years and there are so many things to consider when evaluating general manager candidates.
USC’s search ended with the hire of Bowden, who held the general manager title at Notre Dame. Bowden was the first of four hires the Trojans have made to revamp their personnel staff.
“We all recognized it was very important to get this right,” Riley said. “Obviously, Chad was the first part of it and a huge part of it, but it’s more than just one person. It’s a system. It’s a way of doing things. You restructure other jobs, you bring other people around them. There’s a lot to it.”
Riley gave shoutouts to athletic director Jen Cohen and deputy athletic director Jay Hilbrands for their role in the process. He said the search started with the goal of hiring someone familiar with the current college landscape, then they narrowed the focus to someone who had experience with salary caps, rosters, contracts, negotiations, etc.
Riley said it’s going to be a “partnership” with Bowden in terms of building the roster but that Bowden will be in charge of that side of the program.
“One of Chad’s first things we talked about, he was like, ‘I want to make it where you can just coach. You can just coach the team, run the team, run the organization and know these things are handled,’” Riley said.
2. Bowden chose not to reveal much about NIL strategies or his thoughts on USC’s current roster. The program’s actions during the spring transfer portal window and in the 2026 recruiting cycle will reveal his true feelings. But he did expand on how he wants to build the roster.
“In this upcoming class, we’re going to major in high school and we’re going to minor in the portal,” he said. “We’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to attack. Our business is change. Every single day something could change. We’re going to be on offense every single day and we’re going to attack it. We’re going to attack it through high school. We’re going to attack it through the state of California. The best high school football in America is played in California and we’re going to do everything we can to get the best players in California to stay here and play for USC.”
The major in high school, minor in the portal strategy is something Bowden is bringing from Notre Dame. The emphasis on California recruiting was interesting because the Trojans have struggled to keep the state’s best players home during Riley’s tenure.
USC signed 24 high school players in the 2025 recruiting cycle. Only five are from California. The Trojans signed just four of the top 50 players from the state. Alabama signed four of the top 15.
3. This was an interesting quote from Bowden when asked what USC offered to lure him from Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame did everything they could to keep me there,” said Bowden, who will obviously receive a healthy paycheck from the Trojans. “USC, for me, it meant more to me. USC kind of held something in my heart (as a young kid). I think it’s the greatest city in the United States of America, Los Angeles. I think it’s a city of opportunity. I thought coming here I could have the type of success I want to have and I could be able to sustain it. It’s a big reason why I chose USC.”
4. Bowden has been credited for pushing the limits of Notre Dame’s operation from a talent acquisition perspective. From the sound of it, it sounds like he wants to do the same at USC.
“You are who you surround yourself with,” Bowden said when discussing the personnel staff hires USC has made over the past two weeks. “We’re hiring the very best across the country. We want to be around the very best. I want to be around the very best. I want to make sure this program is being pushed in every avenue. There is not a day, there is not a moment where you can be lax. I want to make sure that we are pushing this program in every avenue.”
With the exception of Riley turning over a significant portion of the roster when he arrived, USC hasn’t exactly been at the forefront of any trends when it comes to roster construction. It’ll be worth watching what buttons Bowden tries to push.
5. Bowden, as mentioned, stressed the importance of recruiting California. Savage, who previously worked at Colorado State (three seasons) and Nevada (one season), should help on that front. He was named the Mountain West’s Recruiter of the Year in three consecutive years by 247Sports.
He recruited Los Angeles County, Long Beach and San Diego at both Nevada and Colorado State, and high school coaches in the region have raved about his work.
“Doubled down on relationships,” Savage said about his success recruiting in Southern California. “Do your due diligence, but you’ve got to give people the time of day. Because it doesn’t matter if it’s a small inner-city school, it doesn’t matter if it’s a Trinity League school.
“You’ve got to give people the time of day. You’ve got to reply to their texts and you’ve got to be honest with their evaluations because you never know, a lot of these kids might be four-stars, five-stars but some of the best players might be underrecruited kids.”
USC has spent a lot of time and effort recruiting in Georgia and Texas recently. It didn’t send an assistant coach to St. John Bosco’s college showcase last May. Savage was there representing Colorado State.
So it should be a boost for USC’s local efforts to have someone who is respected by the area’s high school coaches.
6. Reed, the cornerbacks coach, has been praised for his recruiting efforts while at UCF, his previous stop.
Here is what he said about evaluating players on the recruiting trail: “I like guys I don’t have to tell to go bite. You know to go bite. If you’ve got a guard dog in your house and you’ve got to tell him to go bite the people who’re breaking in, I don’t think that’s a guard dog. … If you’re 5-foot-9 but you’re a dawg, we’ll find somewhere for you to play. That’s just who I am. I believe my eyes. The stars are cool but if I watch the film and you’re out there bitin’, I consider you a dawg. It’s a fun process, man.”
7. Ryan delivered a gem of a press conference. You can check out the whole thing for yourself. It was essentially a live stream of consciousness.
One thing was pretty clear: He’s really looking forward to coaching Eric Gentry. The 6-foot-6, 215-pound Gentry looked like USC’s best defensive player during the first month of last season, but he was limited to just five games because he suffered multiple concussions.
The Trojans lost their two starting linebackers from 2024, Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and Mason Cobb, so Gentry will have to shoulder more of the load for a group that lacks ideal depth.
“He’s done everything this school has asked of him this year,” Ryan said. “He’s been in the weight room. He’s got the diet going. He’s built his body up. Guy’s been fantastic. He does the unnatural, natural. Like, I love this kid. This guy’s going to be fun to work with. He’s got these vines for arms.”
8. Ryan is at USC primarily because of his ties with defensive coordinator D’anton Lynn. This is their third time working together. The two overlapped with the Buffalo Bills in 2016 and the Baltimore Ravens in 2021. Ryan’s brother, Rex, and Lynn’s father, Anthony, also have a close relationship.
Ryan’s hire was announced shortly after USC announced an extension for Lynn. That came after Penn State made a push for Lynn, who played for the Nittany Lions from 2008-2011. Retaining Lynn, who dramatically improved the defense in 2024, was the most significant win of the offseason for USC.
“When your alma mater comes after you, that pulls at people in different ways,” Riley said. “But I think in the end, D’Anton wanted to be a Trojan. He’s excited about what we’re building. He sees the vision. He sees the changes. He sees the progress. He sees the new hires. He sees all the parts of that, the players we have incoming.”
9. In other coordinator news, Luke Huard has been given the title of offensive coordinator. Huard coached inside receivers in 2023 then moved to quarterbacks in 2024. He was the key figure in helping USC land five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet.
Though Riley will still call plays, the offensive coordinator title is yet another sign of how much trust USC’s head coach, who has always been hands-on with the quarterbacks, has placed in Huard.
“Luke’s just taken a real leading role in what we’re doing,” Riley said. “He did a great job with quarterbacks. He certainly takes a lead role in how we organize, how we game plan, which is what that role has typically been for us. He’s been loyal. He’s had a lot of people come after him.”
10. It’s very easy to forget, but Wednesday was national signing day. USC signed two more players for its 2025 class: three-star linebacker AJ Tuitele and three-star defensive lineman Jadyn Ramos.
The Trojans’ 2025 class ranks 14th nationally in the 247Sports Composite after those two additions.
(Photo of Lincoln Riley: Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)
