Facing a potential make-or-break season, Lincoln Riley is making adjustments to his coaching staff.
In addition to general manager Chad Bowden and director of football sports performance Trumain Carroll, the Trojans hired veteran offensive line coach Adrian Klemm. Riley confirmed the hire Wednesday, the first day of fall camp. Though Klemm comes from an offensive background, he’ll work with USC’s defensive staff.
Riley confirms the hire and says he will work with the defensive staff despite his offensive background. Adds Klemm will be used in a couple different roles. #USC https://t.co/NM7ggS2MkU
— Chris Treviño (@ChrisNTrevino) July 30, 2025
Klemm’s most recent coaching experience was in 2023 as an offensive line coach under Bill Belichick in his final season with the Patriots, though he stepped away in November to deal with a medical issue.
The coach is new to the Big Ten. In 2022, he was on Oregon’s staff as an offensive line coach, run game coordinator and associate head coach, leading the Ducks to a 10-3 finish. Oregon ended the season No. 3 in the Pac-12 and ranked No. 15 nationally.
"Adrian was available, and we had an open position," Riley said. "We were actively looking for someone with an offensive background for a defensive role, which is a little bit tough to find sometimes. He'd obviously had some familiarity with this place and with people on our staff. We got a chance to connect with him and it just made sense."
Riley placed a big focus on staffing ahead of 2025, and says the hire of Bowden as general manager has paid off so far.
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“We knew how important it was to get the right person and then build a great team around him, which we've been able to do,” Riley said. “That's freed up not only myself, but a lot of our other coaches to really just coach and to really, really invest in the development of our current team, and put a lot of our time and attention into that more than we were able to do previously. It's been a challenge at times here in the first few years. I would say, in the last four to five months, I've probably coached more than I have in a long time, which is a good feeling.”