Something changed at USC — and it starts with Lincoln Riley | Exclusive

• USC coach Lincoln Riley has hired veteran coach Gary Patterson to run his defense.
• USC has the consensus No. 1 recruiting class and 15 returning starters for the 2026 season.
• A new $200 million, 160,000-square-foot football facility is set to open this summer.

Amidst the top-ranked recruiting class that includes transfer portal acquisitions and retentions — Southern California just might trace its 2026 football fortunes to a golf course.

Which just might chart how long Trojans coach Lincoln Riley owns the tee box.

In the intervening years since Gary Patterson’s midseason exit from TCU in 2021, Pebble Beach Golf Course has become a safe harbor for a pair of former intraconference foes.

There, Lincoln Riley and Patterson — former Big 12 bosses respectively at Oklahoma and TCU, — routinely rekindle their coaching discussions.

Even discuss working together.

Now, those occasional offseason encounters are at the root of Patterson’s return to college football and a seminal USC season for Riley, who enters his 10th season as a head coach with the 40-year-veteran Patterson running his defense.

“We’ve stayed in touch; he’s been good through the years to just check in with me,” Riley told USA TODAY Sports. “... We had some great battles through the years, a lot of respect and our conversations never really, totally stopped.”

The 66-year-old Patterson now is the 42-year-old Riley’s defensive coordinator for a variety of reasons, the most glaring the exit of previous coordinator D’Anton Lynn to work for Matt Campbell at Penn State.

There is more than just a College Football Hall of Famer seeking a full-time return to the game as an on-field coach for the first time in five years.

Patterson’s presence signifies change and growth in the head coach, those in the USC program explain. He is structure and discipline and sticking to a practice script and illustrating those coaches molding the defense are not just lining up players for the whims of Riley’s diabolical offensive machinations.

There’s newfound commitment to all aspects of USC football from the top down.

“Lincoln’s ability to adapt, in the new college football era, since I’ve gotten here, he’s evolved and he’s hungry to win at the highest levels,” said Chad Bowden, USC’s general manager. “He’s had to make really hard decisions within his program, but he’s made those decisions, and USC is better for it.

“I think he’s evolved, and things weren’t on his plate eight years ago that now are on his plate and he’s done a great job of evolving in the new era.”

Riley also is proving unafraid of clearing his plate of staff not meeting expectations. Patterson, Bowden, strength coach Trumain Carroll, special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler and defensive pass game coordinator Paul Gonzales are among the notable newcomers in the past 16 months.

Bowden arguably is the most striking example of Riley’s personal rebuild, the one the Trojans need if they are to make their first College Football Playoff appearance since its 2014 inception and hydrate a 20-year drought of not even competing for a national title.

Under Bowden, USC enters the 2026 season with college football’s consensus No. 1 recruiting class as well as perhaps the nation’s most experienced team of returnees.

Fifteen USC starters are back from last year’s 9-4 team, nine of them on offense including redshirt senior quarterback Jayden Maiava.

Riley doesn’t remember ever having such broad returning experience, even after taking over for Bob Stoops at Oklahoma and punching three CFP appearances.

“With Baker (Mayfield, at Oklahoma) a couple years we returned some guys, but didn’t have it past that there and certainly haven’t had anything close to that here," said Riley, with 55 wins in five seasons at Oklahoma and 35 in his first four at USC.

“It’s pretty rare to have that guy back at quarterback in Jayden and continuity at key positions. I would guess we’re one of just a handful of teams across the country that’s happened with in this era.”

While Bowden points to the coach’s open door "guys are wearing out a path to his office,” — Riley demurs; touts big-picture commitment and progress.

“I just think it shows that the guys in the program are excited about where we’re going,” he said. “I think it’s a vote of confidence from people in this program on day in, day out basis for the program.

“No matter how last season went individually, people in this program are developing, getting better, they’re getting the type of support they need at this level to perform, to do well academically, to do well in all areas.”

Soon, USC players and coaches will be conducting these non-gameday obligations inside the new $200 million Bloom Football Performance Center. The 160,000 square-foot facility, more than twice the size of USC’s current cramped quarters, is a touchstone for any visit with Riley.

Initially, he’s showing off the facility’s rudimentary structure from his office balcony to a visitor during a spring 2025 meeting to espousing its features during an expansive call this spring during his commute to his home in Rancho Palos Verdes above the cliffs overlooking Point Vicente Lighthouse.

Known for his offensive architecture, Riley also has fingerprints on the blueprints of USC football’s new central nervous system, its opening arriving this summer.

There’s an open-air players’ lounge, plans to prominently feature USC’s past national championship teams and star players, a virtual reality training space and an emphasis on state-of-the-art, sports recovery and treatment facilities that dovetail with the players’ common areas.

“This has been four years in the making, I have a file on my iPad that I just would consistently take pictures, ask questions, put notes down,” Riley said. “I kind of started it when did we the facility upgrades at Oklahoma, just any time something in mind came up, almost like a new play, I would wonder if we could do this or that. Whatever wild idea it was.

“I think the open-air players’ lounge, because we wanted to do some things unique to LA, and you can’t go have an open-air room the size of what we will have in very many places on this planet. We’re going to move away from a space with a ton of limitations into one with no limitations. We will be on the forefront of any sports facility in the world.”

Meaningful games into late November and throughout December now must follow in this rebirth of USC football.

“Every year is big, and I think there is a sense, I certainly understand the rebuild that has happened here,” Riley says. “All the work done to get this place back to where we believe it can and should be. I’m excited about the cumulative effect of it, but I know, listen, these opportunities, nothing’s ever a given in this game. College football and the highest level of sports teach that and will humble you in a second. The second it ever feels easy … you better make the most of every single opportunity.

“I’ve loved the climb here. We’ve had great moments and had some challenging moments. That’s part of taking over, but I’m very bullish on the work done, the progress made and the opportunity we’ve created for this program.”

What’s left then, for USC under Riley, is much like golf: The Trojans must find themselves in contention at the end of the round.