Trojans hire new offensive line coach


The USC football team will have another new face on the sidelines this season, as head coach Steve Sarkisian announced Wednesday that Bob Connelly has been named offensive line coach and run game coordinator.

Connelly will take over the role from Tim Drevno, who joined Jim Harbaugh as Michigan’s offensive coordinator after one season at USC.

“We are delighted to have Bob join our staff,” Sarkisian said. “He is a great fit for what we do. He is very familiar with Pac-12 and West Coast football, and he is also very versatile, as he has coached various offensive styles in his career.”

Connelly will look to improve an offensive line that gave up 32 sacks last season, tied for 93rd in the nation with 2.46 sacks allowed per game, and a running game that finished 66th in the nation with 160.9 yards per game. He won’t have last season’s leading rusher, redshirt junior tailback Javorius Allen, who chose to forgo his senior season for the NFL Draft, but will retain all starters on last year’s offensive line. He will also get to work with No. 1 running back Ronald Jones II and No. 3 offensive tackle Chuma Edoga from this year’s recruiting class.

Connelly has been an offensive line coach for 20 years, with previous stops at Alabama, Washington State, UCLA, UTEP, Arizona State and most recently, Oklahoma State, which beat Washington, 30-22, in the Cactus Bowl last season. He has worked with numerous NFL players, including 2008 Outland Trophy winner Andre Smith and            two-time NFL All-Pro Evan Mathis.

Connelly has worked with a top-25 scoring offense in four of his 20 seasons, including at Washington State in 2001 and 2002, UTEP in 2009 and Arizona State in 2012. He helped lead the Cougars to a Rose Bowl appearance in 2003 and the Crimson Tide to a Cotton Bowl appearance in 2006, and he assisted UTEP running back Donald Buckram in setting his school’s single-season rushing record in 2009 with 1,594 yards.

Listed as one of college football’s top 25 recruiters by Rivals.com in 2005 with the Crismon Tide, Connelly will prove to be asset to the Trojans as they look toward their 2016 recruiting class.

Connelly started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater Texas                 A&M-Commerce in 1995, where he worked with the offensive line and tight ends. He was an          all-conference offensive guard in 1992 and 1993.

The Trojans will start their highly anticiated 2015 season at the Coliseum against Arkansas State on Sept. 5.