Chad Bowden and Lincoln Riley must fire Rob Ryan to improve USC

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USC football has a game against UCLA this week. It’s important to beat the Bruins, and we will obviously talk about that game during the week. However, the offseason has in many ways begun for the Trojans and their fans. The playoff will be viewed from a couch once again. The Trojans will not participate in it for the 12th straight season since the playoff began in 2014. Lincoln Riley and Chad Bowden have to get it right in 2026. One thing they have to do: Fire Rob Ryan, the underperforming linebacker coach who dragged down this defensive staff. Trojans Wire’s Ethan Inman discussed a part of the story on Saturday after the loss to Oregon:

Rob Ryan flunked his big exam against Oregon

Inman wrote that “USC’s linebackers were just awful against Oregon. But the Trojans have a lot of talent at the position — Eric Gentry, Desman Stephens II and Jadyn Walker have all shown flashes of excellence. The biggest issue was scheme. It felt like the Trojans didn’t stop an outside run all game. You can have all the talent in the world but if you’re not in the right spot, you won’t make a play. Ryan has has USC’s linebackers consistently in the wrong spots. And it’s not improving. The 11th game of the season was maybe the linebacker corps’ worst.”

He’s not wrong.

Awful against Notre Dame

USC gave up over 300 rushing yards against Notre Dame on a night when ND quarterback CJ Carr didn’t even perform well. That shouldn’t happen, but it did. Linebackers were terrible in run support against good but flawed offenses.

Awful against Illinois

USC gave up “only” 34 points to Illinois, but remember: Illinois fumbled twice inside the 3-yard line in that game. Illinois easily could have scored 48. Rob Ryan had his linebackers unprepared in the three biggest road games of the year, which perpetuated Lincoln Riley’s infuriating track record of not getting it done against good teams on the road in 2025.

Matt Entz was dramatically better

USC did not have as much depth last year with Eric Gentry getting hurt in late September against Wisconsin. Matt Entz did a great job in the one month he had with Gentry, but when Gentry got injured, USC’s 2024 linebackers were still better than this year’s group, which had a healthy Gentry most of the time. The difference in coaching was — and is — stark.

Alex Grinch memories

Lincoln Riley watched his Alex Grinch-coached defense get torched by Tulane in the Cotton Bowl — 46 points, 16 in the final five minutes to blow a 45-30 lead — and decided to retain his bad defensive coordinator. We all saw how that worked out in 2023, a wasted season which set back the program multiple years. If Lincoln Riley doesn’t fire Rob Ryan, it will show he has learned absolutely nothing … and is not serious about winning.

Chad Bowden

This is where one should be optimistic about USC making the right move. Chad Bowden is the guy who fixed Lincoln Riley’s recruiting problem. He will surely insist on a change at linebacker coach. If he doesn’t, I will be surprised … but we do need to see it happen.

The big picture

Ethan Inman, in his analysis of the USC coaching staff, astutely pointed out that there’s at least one failed staffer every year. This year it was Ryan and special teams coach Ryan Dougherty. Last year it was offensive line coach Josh Henson. Before that it was Grinch and the position coaches he had.

USC simply can’t have mediocre assistants, but it has, and that’s a huge reason the program has fallen short.

2026 recruiting class

With elite freshmen coming into the program, USC has to insist on the best. Rob Ryan is clearly not the best USC can do. This should be an easy decision.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Keeping Rob Ryan would be an Alex Grinch repeat for Lincoln Riley, USC

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