Former USC football Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn reportedly told USC that he will accept the DC job at his alma mater, Penn State, and will not coach the Trojans in their bowl game Tuesday night, per multiple reports, including CBS Sports and ESPN. According to Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times, it was a “mutual agreement” between Lynn and USC to leave after the news broke.

USC will take on TCU in the Valero Alamo Bowl at 6 p.m. with co-defensive coordinator Eric Henderson calling plays for the defense, Kartje wrote in a post on X.

In his two seasons with the Trojans, Lynn helped turn around a detrimental defense, drastically improving stats like opponent yards per game, interceptions and first downs allowed while sending multiple USC defenders to the NFL Draft.

“This job is a lot different than it was four years ago,” Head Coach Lincoln Riley said Dec. 19 when asked about the rumours of Lynn leaving. “We’re honestly at that point where not just [for defensive coordinator], but any position, that, if there is turnover, these are really coveted jobs.”

This is the second year in a row that the Nittany Lions have pursued Lynn; in May, he reaffirmed his presence as a Trojan, saying that he “couldn’t imagine [himself] coaching anybody else.” In September, he was also a rumored candidate for the UCLA head coaching job — he was their defensive coordinator in 2022 — but he also shut down those rumors. 

Lynn is joining a Penn State squad that, like UCLA, went through complete disarray this year. The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 2 in the preseason, but started the season 3-6 before firing long-time head coach James Franklin. After a long search, they hired former Iowa State Head Coach Matt Campbell.

Lynn’s initial signing contract with USC was worth upward of $2 million, making him one of the highest-paid coordinators in all of college football. Lynn will be replacing current Tennessee football Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles, who had a contract averaging $3.1 million across three years with the Nittany Lions.

“It’s just part of the world that we live in, and hopefully we can keep as much continuity as we can, but if we do have to make any replacements, then we’re going to try to do what we’ve done. Do it at a high level and find ways to make our program even better,” Riley said. “D’Anton has done a really good job here, and we’ll see how it plays out.”