Gary Patterson may not have had been a head coach or even a coordinator since he left TCU in 2021 but he was never away from the game.
Patterson spent time as a consultant at Texas in 2022 and Baylor in 2024 but last year he did a college football kickoff show with Amazon and USC’s new defensive coordinator said he did it for one reason above all, to be able to watch film.
Patterson was given a subscription to Catapult Thunder, a video analysis and playbook platform used by NFL and college football teams to watch footage from multiple angles, study opponents, playbook collaboration and be given live sideline data.
So, every Sunday, Patterson was studying film. He could get a grasp of what different programs were doing across the country and what changes were happening in the sport because he didn’t have to focus on his own team.
There are two Big Ten teams the Trojans will see this season that Patterson studied extensively, Indiana and Ohio State. Both had premier defenses in 2025, particularly in the red zone. With USC, Patterson has been able to combine what they did well last year, plus what he’s gained in the time he spent with other programs and what he learned from last season.
Focus on Improving USC’s Defense
The defensive side of the ball has long been an issue for Lincoln Riley’s teams for the past decade, dating back to when he first became a head coach at Oklahoma.
However, Riley made waves in January when he hired Patterson, a former Big 12 rival and College Football Hall of Famer, to replace D’Anton Lynn. Riley has spoken glowingly about Patterson, especially last week when he took the stage at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago, referring to him as “one of the greatest minds of this last era of college football.”
Patterson has continued to be persistent in his film study since arriving at Southern Cal. And for the first time since 2000, Patterson is not a head coach while serving as a full-time staff member. He doesn’t have to do everything else that goes along with being in charge of an entire program. Patterson is not on the road recruiting, his focus is on one thing, fixing the Trojans defense.
“I didn’t have worry about going fundraising, I didn’t have to worry about going on the road recruiting, all I did was football,” Patterson said. “That’s like getting married, I wasn’t doing anything else. Even though the staff needed a recharge, I didn’t really need to do that, so I stayed here all summer, I didn’t leave. I knew that’s the way I was gonna do it when I got here, my wife knew how I was gonna do it.”
Developing Talent at USC
When Patterson first arrived at Southern Cal, he was immediately impressed by the size of the defensive line. It’s one of the many changes he’s seen with the Trojans versus his time at TCU. Patterson built elite defenses for two decades for Fort Worth and he did so with a lot of two and three-star recruits and junior college players.
The 66-year-old coach is a great evaluator and developmental coach. It’s why the Horned Frogs have been one of the most successful programs on the 21st century and he’s headed to the Hall of Fame. Now, Patterson inherits more talent at USC than he’s ever had at any other point career.
The Trojans have returning starters at every position on defense. The goal has been to continue elevating them and several other key reserves that have returned. In addition to Patterson, USC also made several moves on its defensive staff, which including hiring linebacker coach Mike Ekeler, safeties coach Paul Gonzales and nickels coach Sam Carter, to develop those players and raise the ceiling.
They promoted analyst Skyler Jones to defensive line coach and AJ Howard to outside linebackers coach and retained cornerbacks coach Trovon Reed and defensive end coach Shaun Nua.
The Trojans staff also wanted to maximize their time with the No. 1 recruiting class and a host of young players from winter workouts to fall camp, to prepare them mentally and physically to play this season.
“When you get down to spring, we want freshman and redshirt freshman who are now closer to sophomores,” Patterson said. “And then you get a chance what time you have left in April, how do we get them to be older sophomores. You get May off and then you come back in June, you get more time with them and hopefully some are getting to be juniors.
“You teach them in July and now we’re in August, fourth, fifth time they’re hearing all of this. My job is to make sure that we can put the best product we possibly can on the field that will help Coach Riley.”
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