NDSU’s Entz leaps to USC to coach linebackers

Pete Thamel, ESPNDec 10, 2023, 05:40 PM ET USC made another substantial addition to address its underperforming defense, employing North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz as the school’s linebackers coach and assistant head coach for defense.Entz brings a strong résumé, as he won two nationwide titles as the head coach at North Dakota State and another four titles as the school’s protective coordinator. He has been called both the coach of the year and coordinator of the year in the FCS.Entz is a second key addition to a USC defense that finished No. 119 nationally in 2015 and fired coordinator Alex Grinch before completion of the season.USC worked with UCLA defensive organizer D’Anton Lynn to run and call the defense

, the first significant step in the overhaul. Entz’s presence is another significant commitment to upgrading the defensive personnel, as it’s uncommon for a sitting head coach with that much national championship pedigree to take an assistant coach job.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Both hires reveal the yawning gap in between the top end of college football and groups that remain in the financial

middle of major

conferences or the FCS. Terms weren’t released on Entz’s hire; he made nearly$400,000 in wage at NDSU.USC’s protective failures led to a 7-5 season and the very first significant crossroads of coach Lincoln Riley’s head-coaching career. He erred in keeping Grinch after a

bad 2022 season, and the constantly underperforming defense took USC from the cusp of the College Football Playoff in 2022 to one of the most frustrating programs in college football in 2023. USC will debut in the Big Ten next season and will face one of the country’s most rigorous schedules. USC opens with LSU in Las Vegas( neutral)and has roadway games at Michigan, Washington and UCLA and home games with Wisconsin, Penn State and Notre Dame.Entz’s protective pedigree is clear. He was the FCS planner of the year in 2018 and assisted North Dakota State to a 39-game winning streak while a coordinator and head coach. He went 16-0 in his first complete season as a head coach in 2019, a historic season matched only by Yale in 1894. He spent 15 seasons as a defensive planner at lower levels.Entz likewise produced a strong crop of assistants, consisting of present Northwestern head coach David Braun. He left NDSU as the protective planner previously in 2023 to take control of as Northwestern’s defensive coordinator and ended up earning the head-coaching task after being called interim coach.”USC is lucky,” Braun informed ESPN on Sunday night.”They’re getting a coach that appreciates youths as people more than football players. They’re getting a coach, a mentor and a married man and someone who understands defensive football inside and out. It’s a home run hire.”