Chad Bowden and Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman worked together to build a program that led the Fighting Irish to a national championship game berth.
So, when USC hired Bowden away from South Bend on Jan. 24 to become the Trojans’ newest general manager — an ever-growing title and position in the modern college football landscape — a big question remained: What would the relationship between Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley and Bowden look like?
Bowden, whose salary is expected to exceed $1 million, accelerated the bonding process by moving in with the head coach. The 30-year-old former general manager and assistant athletic director at Notre Dame packed his bags and settled — at least temporarily — into Riley’s “casita.”
“I’ve been able to stay at Coach Riley’s house over the last week and a half,” Bowden said at his introductory news conference on Wednesday morning. “That’s been a really great experience. I’ve been able to have some of his steaks and balsamic Mickey Mantle’s steaks that he makes.”
“My wife, you know, I told her that it’s the happiest I’ve been in a very long time,” he added.
Riley, entering his fourth season at USC, said the meat of Bowden’s job will come from managing work on the recruiting trail and off-the-field business. He said Bowden’s responsibilities will primarily include scouting, recruiting and salary cap management.
Read more: USC hires Notre Dame’s Chad Bowden as its football general manager
At Notre Dame, Bowden assembled three top-15 recruiting classes, according to 247Sports.com, since becoming the fighting Irish’s director of recruiting in 2022 before being promoted to general manager in March 2024. USC’s 2025 recruiting class — now including National Signing Day signees linebacker AJ Tuitele and defensive end Jadyn Ramos — is ranked No. 17 in the country by 247Sports, while the still-developing 2026 group of players sits at fourth overall.
“One of his, one of his biggest goals — our biggest goals — with this was to allow our coaches to coach more,” Riley said. “I know, as crazy as that sounds, a lot of our coaches get pulled in so many different directions that you want to be able to within your organization, whatever strengths people bring to the table, you want to accentuate those as much as you possibly can.”
Coming off back-to-back seasons finishing outside of the Associated Press top 25 poll, Riley said he’s had to change aspects of the program to push toward loftier results.
“We’re not content with any part of this program being average or even being good, that’s not our mentality,” Riley said. “Any part of this program we’re evaluating on, ‘Is it at a national championship level?’ If it’s not, is it trending that way quickly? If it’s not, we need to fix it.”
Read more: The Times of Troy: At the end of Year 3, USC has yet to find its identity under Lincoln Riley
Riley credited athletic director Jennifer Cohen, deputy athletic director Jay Hilbrands and former general manager Dave Emerick (who is now the senior associate athletic director for football administration) for assembling the staff. USC has officially hired two of Bowden’s former Notre Dame colleagues: Dre Brown, the executive director of scouting and personnel, and Zaire Turner, assistant athletic director of recruiting operations.
While Bowden said he wouldn’t get into specifics regarding how USC will utilize name, image and likeness in recruiting, he laid out the Trojans’ strategy going forward. He noted that much of his work will be seen in the 2026 recruiting class rather than heading into the 2025 season.
“We’re going to major in high school and we’re going to minor in the [transfer] portal,” Bowden said. “We’re going to be aggressive, and we’re going to attack. Our businesses change every single day. Something will change and we’re going to be on offense every single day. We’re going to attack it. We’re going to attack it through high school. We’re going to attack it through the state of California.”
Bowden, known for his unorthodox recruiting methods at Notre Dame, joked that Riley could be “jumping out of a helicopter” or newly hired associate head coach and linebackers coach Rob Ryan could “hop down in a parachute” to woo recruits.
Read more: Lincoln Riley attributes departures to USC’s pro-style formula dictating NIL offers
He said the relationships — so far — have been on the same page as his staff continues to assemble a game plan for USC football recruiting in the months and years ahead.
“Coach Riley, Jen — there’s an alignment, there’s synergy within how we’re going to approach this thing, how we’re going to attack it,” said Bowden, whose father, Jim, was an MLB general manager for the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals. “Any time you have balsamic steaks that are phenomenal… you have a pretty great relationship.”
Ryan’s rambuctious introduction
Returning to college football for the first time since 1999, Rob Ryan shared stories, flexed his impression skills and strut around the podium Wednesday like a WWE wrestler.
The former NFL coordinator with more than 35 years of coaching experience said Trojans’ defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn is the reason he’s in University Park — taking a break from a prompted debate over Troy Polomalu’s locks in comparison to his long, silver hair.
“D’Anton did the same thing at UCLA,” said Ryan, who coached with Lynn in the NFL with Buffalo and Baltimore. “Now he came here, the program was a little bit down, clearly on the upside. Watch where we finish this year. Watch where we finish this year. This guy is special. He’s special.”
Ryan said within the linebackers corps, he’s looking forward to coaching freshman Desman Stephens II and senior Eric Gentry. The 62-year-old coach, who most recently served as a defensive assistant for the Las Vegas Raiders, said Stephens “plays violently,” while Gentry has “vines for arms,” using his length to make plays on the field.
Up-and-coming coaches
Riley may have looked old school by hiring Ryan ahead of the 2025 season, but he also selected two younger coaches to join the staff.
Thirty-four-year-old Trovon Reed and 30-year-old Chad Savage will serve as USC’s cornerbacks coach, and tight ends and inside receivers coach, respectively. Savage — from Colorado State — and Reed — from Central Florida — enthusiastically touted their dedication as coaches and recruiters.
“It’s a cliche saying, everyone says it, but double down on relationships,” Savage said. “Do your due diligence, but you got to give people the time of day. Because it doesn’t matter if it’s a small inner-city school, doesn’t matter if it’s a Trinity [League] School, you got to give people the time of day.”
Reed said player development is one of his key coaching traits following a one-year stint at Central Florida.
“I’m gonna break you down,” said Reed, who played in the NFL under Pete Carroll. “I’m gonna break you down all the way. I’m gonna find everything you’re not good at, and we’re gonna become good. And the things you’re good at, we’re gonna continue to be great.”
Savage said he hopes his energy is contagious in practice and it rubs off on his players.
“When they make a play, don’t be surprised if you see a coach on the field,” Reed said. I’m gonna talk to coach [Riley]. I might get a flag or two, it’ll be worth it though.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.