USC's turnover of its defensive coaching staff continued as outside linebackers coach Roy Manning announced his departure from the program Thursday night.
After hiring new defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn (from UCLA), linebackers coach Matt Entz (formerly the head coach at North Dakota State) and defensive backs coach Doug Belk (formerly the DC at Houston), Lincoln Riley had acknowledged last month that the defensive staff still wasn't finalized.
With Manning moving on, it remains to be seen how Riley will fill that opening and whether defensive line coach Shaun Nua remains on staff.
Manning thanked Riley, USC fans and his players in farewell message posted to Twitter on Thursday night.
"Never stop believing that what's coming next is better. ... I'll do the same," Manning wrote in addressing his former players.
Manning was arguably USC's top defensive recruiter, landing the Trojans' top-rated defensive recruit in the 2023 class in OLB Braylan Shelby (ranked the No. 64 overall national prospect) and did impressive work in this 2024 cycle as well, signing four-stars Kameryn Fountain (Atlanta, Georgia) and Elijah Newby (Chesire, Connecticut) from the East Coast.
Riley had acknowledged Manning's impact on National Signing Day when asked specifically about his role in the recruiting class.
“I give Coach Manning a lot of credit. He’s one of the better recruiters that I’ve been around, and the reason is cause he’s very genuine and honest and a really relationship-oriented person and has had great experience," Riley said last month. "And so, no question, to go get two of our, I agree, two of our favorite players in the class with Kam and with Elijah, I mean, a tremendous job by him, go get two guys across the country, two guys that a lot of people really wanted to sign. ... I give credit to Roy and the relationships that he’s established, and we feel like those are two future difference-makers and Roy certainly deserves a ton of credit for that.”
Manning previously spent three seasons on Riley's staff at Oklahoma at prior coaching stints at Michigan, Washington State and UCLA.
In terms of Manning's position group, the rush ends, USC probably didn't get the full impact from the unit it had hoped the last two years -- and part of that is certainly a reflection on the personnel he inherited there while trying to add talent to the group these last two offseasons.
Jamil Muhammad led USC with 6.5 sacks from that rush end spot, while Romello Height contributed 4 sacks and Shelby 2 this past season, but the pass rushing production tailed off notably late in the fall.
As for the defensive overhaul, Riley fired former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with two games left in the regular season, naming Nua and LBs coach Brian Odom as co-interim coordinators, which they remained through the bowl game.
Meanwhile, longtime cornerbacks coach Donte Williams announced his departure prior to the bowl game in taking a job at Georgia the same day Riley announced the hiring of Belk to replace him. Entz's hiring as LBs coach presumably signaled Odom's departure from the program, though no official announcement to that end has ever been made. Assuming Odom indeed is gone, that leaves one spot now to fill on the staff following Manning's departure.
After the Trojans' Holiday Bowl win over Louisville on Dec. 27, Riley praised the defensive coaches who prepared the team despite tough circumstances, referring to their job status.
"A special thanks to the coaches that did that -- it was not an easy situation, especially for some of the coaches on our staff. Especially our defensive guys did a hell of a job tonight -- they got our guys ready to play," Riley said. "A lot of really good coaches, a lot of really good people on the staff where they could have turned and tried to go on to the next thing and they stayed because it was important."
