When defensive coordinator Alex Grinch was fired on Nov. 5, we debuted our initial list of targets to replace him -- ranked and rationalized.
Then silly season began for the college football coaching carousel, so we adjusted according with Version 2.0 of our list a week later and then a third iteration last Friday.
But the coaching carousel is always spinning, so we needed a Version 4.0 with the reports that Baylor is retaining head coach Dave Aranda, who was one of our top two names if he had been let go there.
With USC's regular-season complete, head coach Lincoln Riley has turned his full focus to the DC search and it wouldn't be a surprise to see a decision and hire come quickly after the final games of the college football's regular season this past weekend.
Riley addressed the search last week.
'We certainly don't want to eliminate anyone, but we also want people that have a proven track record and people that have done this at a high level and have showed a consistent level of excellence. And then I think also with that, being here two years now, I think the other piece that we can't miss on is the fit, right?" Riley said.
"The opportunity to go hire a great one is there and we're going to settle for nothing but the best."
With that said, here's how we size up the potential candidates at this point ...
Be sure to join the discussion on our Trojan Talk board and vote in our poll for who you want as DC!
(Reminder: Our list factors in the latest buzz we're hearing, buzz that others are reporting but also remains largely weighted to our analysis of the best candidates so as to reflect who -- if everybody were interested (which is of course never the case) -- we think would be the best hire USC could make. For instance, there has not been any fresh Dave Aranda buzz, but we still think he'll end up available and should be near the top of the list.)
Now, on to the new list ...
1. Jim Leonhard
Current position: Senior defensive analyst at Illinois
Change from our 3.0 list: None. We still like Leonhard as a top candidate, and he leads our subscribers poll as the fan favorite, but there's no clear gauge on whether he's interested.
Notable resume: Leonhard, who was a safety in the NFL for six different teams from 2005-14, established himself a successful college defensive coordinator while holding that role at his alma mater Wisconsin from 2017-22, including a stint as interim head coach. During those seasons, the Badgers' defense ranked 2nd nationally (262.1 yards per game allowed) in 2017, 29th in 2018 (344.2), 4th (287.1) in 2019, 5th (299.9) in 2020, 1st in 2021 (235.3) and 11th in 2022 (303.5).
Why he would be a fit at USC: Just look at those numbers! Leonhard has a proven track record of running the kind of defenses that USC will need to compete in the Big Ten moving forward. And he's available. It seems like too obvious of a match.
Why he wouldn't be a fit at USC: None. He doesn't have any ties to the West Coast, but USC could benefit by tapping into Leonhard's Midwest recruiting ties and the Trojans should have a lot to sell recruits in that area as a member of the Big Ten.
Our verdict: USC should know by now if Leonhard is interested in the position. The Trojans' advantage was/is that they moved early off Grinch and that Leonhard wasn't tied to a full-fledged assistant position. This would be a home run hire.
