Lincoln Riley in a suit and tie.
Lincoln Riley has served as head coach of the Trojans since 2022.

The USC Trojans college football team represents the University of Southern California (USC) in the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). The Trojans compete as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The program has had 26 head coaches and three interim head coaches since it began play during the 1888 season. [1]

Key

Key to symbols in coaches list
General Overall Conference Postseason[A 1]
No. Order of coaches[A 2] GC Games coached CW Conference wins PW Postseason wins
DC Division championships OW Overall wins CL Conference losses PL Postseason losses
CC Conference championships OL Overall losses CT Conference ties PT Postseason ties
NC National championships OT Overall ties[A 3] C% Conference winning percentage
† Elected to the College Football Hall of Fame O% Overall winning percentage[A 4]

Coaches

List of head football coaches showing season(s) coached, overall records, conference records, postseason records, championships and selected awards[A 5]
No. Name
[A 6] 		Season(s)
[A 7] 		GC OW OL OT O% CW CL CT C% PW PL PT CC NC Awards
1 Henry H. Goddard 1888 2 2 0 0 1.000 — — — — — — — — — —
1 Frank H. Suffel 1888 2 2 0 0 1.000 — — — — — — — — — —
2 Lewis R. Freeman 1897 6 5 1 0 0.833 — — — — — — — — — —
3 Clair S. Tappaan 1901 2 0 2 0 .000 — — — — — — — — — —
4 John Walker 1903 6 4 2 0 0.667 — — — — — — — — — —
5 Harvey Holmes 1904–1907 27 19 5 3 0.759 — — — — — — — — — —
6 William I. Traeger 1908 5 3 1 1 0.700 — — — — — — — — — —
7 & 9 Dean Cromwell 1909–1910
1916–1918 		35 21 8 6 0.686 — — — — — — — — — —
8 Ralph Glaze 1914–1915 14 7 7 0 0.500 — — — — — — — — — —
10 Gus Henderson 1919–1925 52 45 7 0 0.865 7 4 0 0.636 2 0 0 0 0 —
11 Howard Jones† 1925–1940 170 121 36 13 0.750 65 23 12 0.710 5 0 0 7 4
1928
1931
1932
1939 		—
12 Sam Barry 1941 9 2 6 1 0.278 2 4 1 0.357 0 0 0 0 0 —
13 Jeff Cravath 1942–1950 90 54 28 8 0.644 37 12 5 0.731 2 2 0 4 0 —
14 Jess Hill 1951–1956 63 45 17 1 0.722 28 10 1 0.731 1 1 0 1 0 —
15 Don Clark 1957–1959 30 13 16 1 0.450 8 9 1 0.472 0 0 0 1 0 —
16 John McKay† 1960–1975 175 127 40 8 0.749 70 17 3 0.794 6 3 0 9 4
1962
1967
1972
1974 		AFCA Coach of the Year (1962, 1972)
Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year (1962, 1972)
Sporting News College Football COY (1972)
17 & 20 John Robinson† 1976–1982
1993–1997 		143 104 35 4 0.741 63 23 3 0.725 7 1 0 5 1
1978 		—
18 Ted Tollner 1983–1986 47 26 20 1 0.564 21 10 0 0.677 1 2 0 1 0 —
19 Larry Smith 1987–1992 72 44 25 3 0.632 33 12 2 0.723 1 4 0 3 0 —
21 Paul Hackett 1998–2000 37 19 18 — 0.514 10 14 — 0.417 0 1 — 0 0 —
22 Pete Carroll 2001–2009 116 97 19 — 0.836 62 14 — 0.816 7 2 — 7 2
2003
2004 		—
23 Lane Kiffin 2010–2013 43 28 15 — 0.651 17 12 — 0.586 0 1 — 0 0 —
Int. Ed Orgeron 2013 8 6 2 — 0.750 6 1 — 0.857 0 0 — 0 0 —
Int. & 25 Clay Helton 2013
2015–2021 		70 46 24 — 0.657 36 13 — 0.735 1 3 — 1 0 —
24 Steve Sarkisian 2014–2015 18 12 6 — 0.667 7 5 — 0.583 1 0 — 0 0 —
Int. Donte Williams 2021 10 3 7 — 0.300 3 5 — 0.375 0 0 — 0 0 —
26 Lincoln Riley 2022–present 27 19 8 — 0.786 8 2 — 0.800 0 1 — 0 0 —

Notes

  1. ^ Although the first Rose Bowl Game was played in 1902, it has been continuously played since the 1916 game, and is recognized as the oldest bowl game by the NCAA. "—" indicates any season prior to 1916 when postseason games were not played.[2]
  2. ^ A running total of the number of head coaches, with coaches who served separate tenures being counted only once. Interim head coaches are represented with "Int" and are not counted in the running total. "—" indicates the team played but either without a coach or no coach is on record. "X" indicates an interim year without play.
  3. ^ Overtime rules in college football were introduced in 1996, making ties impossible in the period since.[3]
  4. ^ When computing the win–loss percentage, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss.[4]
  5. ^ Statistics correct as of the end of the 2022 NCAA Division I FBS football season.
  6. ^ USC did not have a head coach for the 1889, 1891–1896, 1898–1900, and 1902 seasons.
  7. ^ USC did not field teams for the 1890, 1911–1913 seasons.

References

  1. ^ Schlabach, Mark (November 28, 2021). "Lincoln Riley leaving Oklahoma to be USC head football coach". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2011). Bowl/All-Star Game Records (PDF). Indianapolis, Indiana: NCAA. pp. 5–10. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 22, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Whiteside, Kelly (August 25, 2006). "Overtime system still excites coaches". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on November 24, 2009. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
  4. ^ Finder, Chuck (September 6, 1987). "Big plays help Paterno to 200th". The New York Times. New York City. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
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