Riley: 'Everything here is going to be done with a defensive mind first'

Lincoln Riley has taken plenty of criticism this season, most centered around his decision to stick with and continually defend embattled former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch.

Even when he ultimately fired Grinch back on Nov. 5, with the defense somehow looking worse and worse by the week, Riley's critics questioned whether he truly realized the extent of the issues on that side of the ball and whether he would do what it takes to fully fix it all.

Well, Riley took the first step in that process Friday when USC hired defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn away from rival UCLA, with The Athletic's Bruce Feldman reporting that Lynn was receiving a three-year contract worth $2 million annually (plus a housing stipend), making him one of the handful of highest-paid assistant coaches in college football.

And on Monday, Riley talked with media for the first time about Lynn and the future of the defense, delivering some compelling comments to indicate he not only fully realizes how much needs to change defensively but that it is his top priority moving forward.

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"What I told Coach Lynn is my mentality going into it is we’re going to do everything that we can in this program to accelerate the process of us playing great defense at USC," Riley said. "And whatever it takes to get that done from a development standpoint, from a staffing standpoint, from the way that we practice, everything here is going to be done with a defensive mind first. ... Again, the edge here is always going to go to what’s best for our defense."

Sure, critics will take a wait-and-see approach to those comments, but Riley is certainly saying everything that would encourage one to believe the trajectory of the Trojans defense is ready to shoot upward.

"Philosophical changes, there will be a lot. This is a very different system than what we were running previously," Riley said. "... There were a few non-negotiables, at least on my part, a few things that were really, really important and they matched up with Coach Lynn. Especially with the defensive front, especially in terms of the evaluation and development of size on the defensive front and how we want to play there. There were a few things that were really important to me, and Coach Lynn’s system certainly fits that -- not just fits that, it excels with that.

"So I think from a philosophical standpoint, we’re going to strip it down. ... We’re going to teach, we’re going to develop in a different way to make sure we fit exactly what we want to be defensively, and coach has a great thought process and a great plan for that. And obviously parts of that will happen on the practice field, part of that is going happen in the weight room and your development program and obviously pieces of that are going to have an impact on who you’re recruiting, your evaluation process, so those were all parts of the conversation leading up to it and it all matched up very well."

Riley was asked to expound on his "non-negotiables" during the process, and his response might well serve on an after-the-fact referendum on what he identifies now as the flaws in Grinch's defense and approach.

There has been an ongoing criticism that the Trojans remain too small along the defensive line and that part of that was intentional, as pass rushers like Korey Foreman and Anthony Lucas (neither of whom made an impact this year) had both noticeably slimmed down from how they arrived at USC. Fans also lamented why the Trojans didn't better utilize bigger defensive tackle Kyon Barrs alongside fellow DT Bear Alexander more often, rather than playing smaller interior linemen like Tyrone Taleni.

Another common criticism of Grinch was that there seemed to be no adjustments, no changes to address the ways the Trojans consistently remained vulnerable, and that for all the talk of lack of execution and players not carrying over what they practiced during the week to how they played on game days, that perhaps the defensive scheme was too complicated.

Riley seemed to touch on both those points.

"I think the size and style that we play up front was, I think, certainly No. 1 for me. Really two of them -- size and style of the way we play up front was one, and that's philosophically, that's evaluation, that's development, that's scheme, that's everything -- and then I think the second piece really for me was I wanted a coach who had displayed and showed the ability to really adapt well to the personnel, a coach that schematically was strong and schematically had the ability and wasn't so tied into one thing," Riley said.

"There's kind of two trains of thought, right? You got your scheme and you just build everybody and you kind of force-feed it to be what you want it to be, or you have your scheme and it's got the ability to adapt to given skill sets in a certain week or matchups in a certain week, and I [wanted] somebody that had that creativity, I think somebody that had the ability to adapt their systems to what you may have because these rosters do change so much and the matchups do change so much every week. I think more of a mindset of just getting the best 11 on the field in any way, shape or form and what does it take that game and that moment for us to play the best defense possible. Those were the two, in terms of on the field play, those were the things that were the most important to me."

Lynn just wrapped up his first season as a coordinator -- and first season as a college football assistant coach, for that matter -- and already made himself into a rising star in the sport, as he turned around a UCLA defense that ranked 89th nationally last season in yards (405.2 YPG) and points allowed (29.0 PPG) and just finished the regular season ranked 11th -- tops in the Pac-12 -- in giving up just 299.0 YPG and 16th in scoring defense (18.08 PPG).

The Bruins held seven of their 12 opponents under 300 yards -- including Utah (219), Washington State (216), Colorado (242) and Arizona State (250), plus another in Cal to 302 yards. USC got an up-close look at his defense in its regular-season finale, with Riley calling it the best defensive line the Trojans have faced all season as they finished with 387 yards but just 3 net rushing yards.

UCLA ranked fourth nationally in sacks with 41, first nationally in rushing defense (69.58 yards per game) and the Bruins' pass defense improved from 118th nationally last season (273 YPG) to 71st (229.4).

"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 [in the hiring decision]," Riley said. "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 [on UCLA's defense]. 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 job with the Baltimore Ravens to come call it. Knows he belongs."

The 34-year-old Lynn got his start with NFL's Buffalo Bills and then-San Diego Chargers (where his father Anthony Lynn was the head coach) before three seasons with the Houston Texans (the last as secondary coach) and two years as the safeties coach for the Baltimore Ravens.

He is now tasked with resurrecting a USC defense that put up its worst numbers in program history, ranking tied for 120th out of 130 FBS teams in giving up 34.92 points per game and 438.8 yards per game.

"[He] stood out to me from the first conversation that we had. 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," Riley said. "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. ... 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."

Riley didn't give specifics (nor was he asked) on how many candidates he considered for the position or how many interviews he conducted, but he did intimate he had talked to multiple potential targets.

“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," he said.

Riley and Lynn already hit the road together over the weekend, doing in-home visits with local four-star cornerback commits Marcelles Williams and Isaiah Rubin.

Lynn won't coach the Trojans in the Holiday Bowl, focusing on recruiting, the transfer portal, evaluating the talent on the roster and working with Riley on deciding what if any changes need to be made on the defensive staff.

"We’ve certainly had conversations about the staff, both with the current guys that we have, which I think highly of a lot of those guys and their skill sets and also what are the needs of this current staff with Coach Lynn in charge defensively and what could that potentially look like. I think there’s one goal in mind here and that’s kind of our north star right now, that’s the thing we’re staying focused on is building the best defensive staff in America here," Riley said. "For me, I'm not getting too caught up into is it somebody that’s here now, is it somebody that’s not here now -- it’s just to me, what is the best and answering that simple question.

"Wherever the best is, whether it’s somebody here or somebody outside of the program, that’s what we’re going to do, that’s what we’re going to build, that process, along with a lot of other things right now is certainly ongoing in conversations and decisions that will be made here in the upcoming future, but I don’t have anything new to report other than that is our sole mission and that's what we’re going to stay focused on and that’s what we’re going to do."

Lynn is scheduled to talk with media over Zoom at noon PT Thursday.