Everything Lincoln Riley said on the D'Anton Lynn hiring, bowl prep, etc.

Note: Riley was connected via phone and his connection cut out a bunch early on, sometimes for extended stretches.

Why was D'Anton Lynn the right choice?

“First, thrilled with the hire. It was a fun process to go through, just to see the amount of attention around this position, the amount of interest” – TV PEOPLE CUT HIM OUT WITH BACKGROUND NOISE – “Got a chance to visit with some of the best defensive minds in the game, which was a great experience, a lot of people that were very interested in this. And so, yeah, it went well, went smooth, it was, I think, certainly had an advantage in having that late bye week. There was some challenges with that, but that was also obviously one of the advantages was it allowed us to get a head start. And I think the key with (connection issues) is, like, not having to feel rushed with it. And this (connection issues) [Lynn] stood out to me from the first conversation that we had. And just, his vision for, obviously, the job he had done at UCLA, his vision for what this could be here, and I think you’re looking for people that are going to come in and make us better and add to us Day 1 by walking in the door, which he checked that box. But also people that have a shared vision of USC, what this program means, what it can be, what it needs to continue to climb, and we were just very, very in sync that way from the beginning.

"And yeah, it was tough to ignore just the pedigree, it was tough to ignore the NFL experience, and then, obviously look at the job that he did along with the other coaches and players there at UCLA this year and the jump they had defensively was important. And I think, I had the benefit of obviously this somebody that I’ve studied, and you could really see the key differences. And yeah, I just, I think he’s a rising star in this coaching profession, and just every conversation that we had I felt more and more like this was the guy that we really wanted, this would be the best possible outcome. And so, obviously wanting that and getting that done sometimes are two different things. But was obviously really happy that this matched up, and I went into this thing with the goal of bringing the very best here, and I feel like we’ve done that, and just fired up to get started with him."

Did playing against UCLA and seeing his defense up close influence the decision?

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, I definitely used every little data point or experience, personal content, anything I’d have with any of the candidates. But certainly, having the ability to see defensively from two years ago to this year some of the key changes and adjustments that he made was helpful. I mean, it was definitely impactful. It certainly wasn’t the sole reason – I think it was just one of the advantages in the evaluation of him. And, you know, that was largely the same group of guys. I mean, there was very few players on the field in our last game this year that weren’t on the field for our UCLA game the previous year. And so, just, you see the impact, and you see the confidence of a guy that, you know, left a secondary guy with the Baltimore Ravens to come call it. Knows he belongs (connection issues) -- can you hear me now? OK, sorry. I just, obviously, then start diving into coaching philosophies, to recruiting philosophies, development of the kids, obviously the evaluation piece, certainly when you factor in getting ready to go into a new conference and facing new opponents, and at every step of the way it just continued to line up.”