USC defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn leaves Trojans for alma mater Penn State

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LOS ANGELES — USC's second-year defensive coordinator, D'Anton Lynn, has informed the Trojans that he is accepting the defensive coordinator job at his alma mater, the Penn State Nittany Lions, according to Matt Lenitz of CBS Sports. This will be Lynn's third defensive coordinator job in four years. 

This is not the first time the Nittany Lions have tried to pursue Lynn. As far back as January, after Lynn's first year with the Trojans, Penn State was actively pursuing him. However, Lynn humbly declined and would later sign a hefty extension to stay in Southern California. In his first year as USC's defensive coordinator, the Trojans' defensive line achieved substantial improvement, only allowing 24.1 points per game in the 2024 season, compared to the 34.4 points per game USC's defensive unit gave up in 2023. 

The improvement on defense continued to improve as the 2025 season commenced, but a new vendetta was issued to the Trojans. USC's defensive unit struggled against opposing teams' run schemes and gave up big plays more often than they would have liked, which led to crucial losses down the schedule. 

Penn State was not the only team that was presumed to be on Lynn's radar for a coaching job, as a head coaching debacle was taking place just 14 miles away from USC's campus. UCLA was actively looking to fill its head coaching position when the job opened up in September, with Lynn's name being tossed around in the salad bowl of names to potentially take the job, especially with prior experience as the Bruins' defensive coordinator before his time at USC. 

Lynn would later confirm after a September practice that the university had not reached out to him with any proposal for a job. 

The rumblings of Lynn leaving the Trojans for his alma mater came to a head yesterday during the Trojans' Valero Alamo Bowl media day, as the Sporting Tribune's CEO, Arash Markazi, asked the second-year defensive coordinator whether he would decide his future with the Trojans following the Bowl game, but humbly declined to answer.

Now, with the Trojans' defensive coordinator job up for grabs, a few names have jumped out as of late to occupy the position, especially former Texas Longhorns defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who was let go by Texas after serving five years as the Longhorns' defensive coordinator on December 18. 

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