Why new USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson returned to coaching

LOS ANGELES — Gary Patterson had one box in mind that he had to check after leaving the TCU football program.

“You had to be three years out to qualify for the College Hall of Fame,” Patterson told reporters on Wednesday. “We hit all the other check marks. That was one of the reasons why I’ve been out of it.”

Patterson is returning to coach college football after leaving TCU – a program he spent 20 years with – in 2021. He’s taking the reins of USC’s defense with Hall of Fame status and a renewed perspective on the sport, cultivated in the four years he’s been off the field.

He spun tales of his time with the Horned Frogs during Wednesday afternoon’s introductory press conference, emphasizing the need to be tough while helping players grow as people and his simple defensive goal of holding opponents to one less point.

But more than anything, he convinced the room that the copious amounts of film he watched in recent seasons as an analyst with Texas and a consultant for Baylor have kept him sharp and ready to coach in the modern college football landscape.

“My wife watches Netflix. I watch film,” Patterson said. “The cool thing for me is I’ve been out for three years, so I got a chance to watch more football and evaluate people about how you play defense, how the game is going – how it all goes.”

Patterson’s TCU teams led the nation in defense in five different seasons, and he’s known for developing the 4-2-5 defense that uses five defensive backs to combat the spread offense that quickly took over college football in the early 2000s.

But just because his identity is so closely linked to the defensive scheme doesn’t mean it will be a constant presence at USC.

“Not necessarily are you going to see all Gary Patterson defense,” he said. “Really, that’ll come down to spring ball. We start seeing what we’re good at, what we’ll be good at, where we’re going to need to stop people in this league and go from there.”

USC will have an influx of talented players now that they’ve signed the top-ranked recruiting class in the nation, and some are already familiar with the 4-2-5 scheme. For example, four-star cornerback Brandon Lockhart and three-star corner Madden Riordan played in it at Sierra Canyon, which uses the 4-2-5 as its base defense.

Patterson arrived on Friday, allowing for just a brief amount of time to get acquainted with the players and personnel. USC retained all of its defensive coaches after the departure of former defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn except for secondary coach Doug Belk, who left the program shortly after the transfer portal had closed.

Paul Gonzales, who previously worked with Patterson at TCU, is reportedly set to be hired as the Trojans’ next secondary coach.

“You kind of got to take a couple steps back,” Patterson said of the coaching staff he’s joining. “You got to get to know them. You can’t be winning if you don’t have chemistry in the room.”

The process of hiring Patterson began with a text message. Head coach Lincoln Riley reached out and asked if the position sounded interesting to him, and Patterson said he was intrigued by the recruiting that the Trojans were doing.

That led to a Zoom call to discuss what defensive philosophy Riley was seeking, which led to a more formal interview process with the school.

“We went through a pretty long, extensive process to get to this hire,” Riley said. “And we felt like we landed on one of the best guys in the business and a guy that’s obviously done it for a long time at as high a level as anyone ever.”

Patterson was also drawn to USC’s 2026 Big Ten schedule, which was officially released on Tuesday and includes games against defending national champion Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State.

He was quick to tell the room that, at 65 years old, he’s just one year older than Coach of the Year Curt Cignetti, who led the Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship this season.

“A lot of people, to be honest with you, would run from it,” Patterson said. “It’s one of the things that attracted me to the job.

“You’re talking about a guy that was out for three years, so I’ve been watching all this football and have an opportunity to say, OK, I can go to be part of a place like USC.”