LOS ANGELES — Lincoln Riley decided it was time to give the USC defense a makeover. And he set a goal to build a staff that “takes a back seat to no one — period.”

On Thursday, Riley spoke to the media for the first time since the 2023 season ended and expressed confidence that his program had accomplished just that.

Of course, the jury remains out. A final verdict won’t be reached until Saturdays this fall.

But it looks very good on paper. The new staff includes an up-and-coming defensive coordinator who orchestrated a massive turnaround last fall, a two-time national championship head coach, an experienced defensive coordinator and, the final piece, a recent Super Bowl champion.

It’s an early indication that Riley is actually serious about improving his team’s defense — a criticism that has followed him since he became a head coach in 2017.

“I believe no one in football, not just college football (matches this staff),” Riley said. “That’s why we went after the guys we went after.”

With this staff — and an upgrade in personnel — the hope is that USC can finally turn things around after enduring 15 years of subpar play on defense. 

Riley’s mindset was obvious when he hired defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn from crosstown rival UCLA after Lynn led the Bruins, who struggled on defense in 2022, to top-15 rankings in scoring defense (14th nationally) and yards per play allowed (eighth).

“We just decided we’re not going to worry about a current job these guys have,” Riley said. “We’re going to go after the best.”

That’s why he was willing to pursue a head coach with two national titles on his resume. Matt Entz led North Dakota State to FCS national championships in 2019 and 2021. Still, he possessed aspirations of climbing the coaching ranks. On Thursday, he spoke about one interview he had for an FBS job.

“Some of the feedback coming back was no FBS experience,” Entz said. “That was probably the last straw for me. If I do see myself ascending in the profession, do I need to take a chance on myself like we talked about and go to one of the blue bloods out there? And this presented itself.”

There were opportunities Entz wanted to look into, but he didn’t expect USC to be one of them.

“The USC one kind of threw a curveball at me,” he said.

Riley was intrigued but didn’t set any expectations for his first conversation with Entz. Once the two started talking, though, it was apparent, “He was just as excited about it as I was,” Riley said.

Doug Belk was previously the defensive coordinator at Houston. (Antonio Morales / The Athletic)

Things progressed from there and Entz spoke with Lynn and connected some dots. Lynn worked under Gus Bradley in 2017 when Bradley, a North Dakota State alumnus, was the Chargers defensive coordinator. From there, Entz and Lynn learned more about one another and their history, and they discussed Lynn’s vision for USC’s defense.

Entz thought the 4-2-5 structure he utilized with the Bison was similar to what Lynn wants to operate with the Trojans.

“Having someone with all the experience he’s had,” Lynn said, “I felt like he’d be an awesome fit as well.”

Though NDSU was in the middle of an FCS playoff run, the process moved quickly. On Dec. 10, Entz was named USC’s linebackers coach. The challenge for Entz is substantial — the Trojans’ linebacker play has been below average for years — but so is the opportunity.

“You’ve got to understand the power of the logo here at USC,” Entz said. “To me, this is one of the three or four blue-blood programs where when this program is operating at maximum capacity, it’s good for college football.”

Lynn didn’t know Entz but knew of him. The same goes for Doug Belk, who spent five seasons at Houston, the past three as the Cougars defensive coordinator. Belk’s first two seasons at Houston (2019-2020) overlapped with Lynn’s last two coaching the secondary for the Houston Texans.

“There’s probably three or four players that he has coached that I coached in the NFL,” Lynn said. “The thing that stuck out with Doug was I was just impressed with all the guys whether it was a draft pick or free agent, rookie year, how prepared all of them were. From a technique, mental standpoint, I always thought they were well coached.”

Lynn viewed Belk as a good fit for the staff. So did Riley. Belk worked for Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia and Houston, and Holgorsen’s ties to Riley date back to the 2000s and their time together at Texas Tech.

Belk had some loose connections to USC as well. He played with former Trojans defensive lineman Kyle Moore in high school. Former USC receiver and assistant coach Keary Colbert was his roommate when Belk was a graduate assistant at Alabama in the mid-2010s. And former Trojans defensive lineman Kenechi Udeze was an analyst on Houston’s defensive staff last season.

“I’ve heard a lot about USC,” Belk said.

He heard more when Riley presented him with an opportunity to join the staff. Belk was in transition after Holgorsen was fired by Houston in late November.

For Belk, his decision came down to two things: “It’s USC and I believed in coach Riley and the direction it’s going. Two, (it’s) an opportunity for me to learn. I think a lot of coach Lynn. We added a lot of other great coaches to the defensive side of the ball.”

Belk has never previously worked on the West Coast or coached in the Big Ten, so it’ll be quite the transition for him as he takes over a secondary that might have five new starters next fall.

“I think if you’re genuine and you work hard, no matter where you go you’ll be fine,” he said. “But I’m excited to kind of tackle the West Coast and see what’s different.”

When this process started, Riley wrote down seven names — his “dream list” — on a whiteboard in his office inside the John McKay Center. The first objective was to find the right defensive coordinator and then he wanted to target the best talent developers.

“If you could get anybody,” he said, “who would it be?”

Riley said he hired four of the seven names. And Lynn played a significant role in the fourth hire. Lynn worked on his father Anthony Lynn’s coaching staff with the Chargers back in 2017. He was a defensive assistant while Eric Henderson was serving as the assistant defensive line coach.

Lynn has had several different roles since then while Henderson ascended in the Rams’ organization and became the defensive line coach in 2019. They’ve always stayed in touch and Lynn, after he became UCLA’s defensive coordinator, visited Henderson during the Rams’ offseason workouts.

“I’ve always known he’s (Henderson) a guy who can coach in the NFL or college and if he got the right opportunity he could succeed at both,” Lynn said. “When the opportunity came, I knew a phone call wouldn’t hurt. The worst he was going to do is say no.”

This offseason has placed a spotlight on the quality of life for college coaches, who have to deal with recruiting, name, image and likeness and the transfer portal, in comparison to their NFL counterparts.

So would Henderson, who coached Aaron Donald, one of the greatest defensive linemen in NFL history, and a group of promising young players, really want to return to the college game after eight years away? UTEP had been his last college stop.

Riley was confident after his first conversation with Henderson.

“I do think we’re fortunate enough to coach at a place where you can have a shot at anybody,” Riley said.

While some coaches have complained about the lifestyle in the college game, Henderson said the move to USC “made all the sense in the world.”

He wanted to be part of the change USC is attempting to make on defense. He wanted to seek out a challenge — coaching the Trojans defensive line will certainly be one — and add another bullet point to his resume. And he loves meeting and talking to new people. So he didn’t seem scared off by recruiting.

“I wanted ‘all the smoke’ when you talk about going back to college to get involved in the recruiting process,” Henderson said. “I embrace that. I look forward to it.”

USC announced Henderson as its new defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator on Jan. 14, one day after the Rams’ season ended. He’ll team up with Shaun Nua, who is the lone holdover from the previous defensive staff and will coach defensive ends.

On Thursday, Henderson stood behind a podium in USC’s team meeting room as the most prized addition to its new defensive staff and the fourth hire from its dream list.

“That’s why you have the conversations,” Riley said, “and that’s why you shoot big.”

Riley isn’t sure USC would’ve been able to hire this staff two years ago when he first arrived in Los Angeles. He believes coaches wanted to see the program prove it was on an upward trajectory.

The past two seasons definitely haven’t been perfect, Riley said, but he believes “that proof has happened.”

The reality is that even with this new staff, USC still has a lot of work to do to achieve what the program ultimately shoots for — national championships.

There are issues this new staff will have to iron out. Can it change the mindset of a group that has come up short both fundamentally and physically in several big games over the past two years?

And USC is still operating at a talent deficit on defense. Can this new staff recruit (and develop) well enough to inject the defense with the necessary high-level talent?

And what about staff chemistry — are there too many cooks in the defensive kitchen?

“We’re just trying to find the best way, regardless of whose idea it is,” Lynn said.

The task ahead is clear but tough.

“We have to change the narrative,” Belk said. “Obviously, everybody in the world knows what coach Riley’s been able to do with quarterbacks and what our offensive staff has been able to produce as far as production, points and big numbers.

“Our energy is we have to match that. We have to set the tempo. We have to be aggressive. We have to be physical and we have to set a new standard for what we want to achieve here, and I think our guys are really excited from our conversations with them but we have to do that the right way — by how we practice, by how we meet and how we prepare.”

(Photo of Lincoln Riley: Darren Yamashita / USA Today)