Several defensive coordinator candidates have been keyed in for USC.
Justin Wilcox, former USC Trojans defensive coordinator: Wilcox was canned by USC after the Pac-12 championship game (and it sounded like he had plenty of obscenities to utter during his game). The former Duck has never enjoyed much success against Oregon from the outside; perhaps a return to the Ducks is what Wilcox needs to regain his old form?
Steve Summers of eDuck has more.
Wilcox played cornerback for Oregon and graduated from the University with a degree in anthropology. He was a graduate assistant at Boise State for two years then moved on to California where he spent for three seasons as a linebacker coach. He returned to Boise State in 2006 for two years as defensive coordinator before moving on to Tennessee in the same position. In 2012 he moved back to the Pacific Northwest to become defensive coordinator at Washington, leaving in 2013 to USC as the defensive coordinator until the end of the 2015 season.
Peter Sirmon, former USC linebackers coach/interim defensive coordinator: Sirmon, another former Duck, has also been brought in for an interview. Sirmon has never been a defensive coordinator, but has been a very successful position guy in multiple Pac-12 spots on multiple Pac-12 staffs. With Clancy Pendergast now likely to be the new USC coordinator, Sirmon has the opportunity to take a look around for something new.
Brady Hoke, former Michigan Wolverines head coach: Odd thing about Brady; he hasn't been a defensive coordinator in college. His last DC stint was as a high school coach in the early 1980s. Hoke is a defensive lifer. More on Hoke from MLive.com:
After being fired from Michigan's head job last winter, Hoke took the 2015 season off. He visited practices at several different schools to study different football systems, and Oregon was one of them.
Hoke spent some time in Eugene watching the Ducks during spring practice last April as a guest of current Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich.
Pete Kwiatkowski, former Washington Huskies defensive coordinator: This was a thing for about a few hours, and then it was not, because UW made sure to lock down on their man.
Oregon reached out to Huskies D-coord Pete Kwiatkowski about its vacant DC job, per source. UW led P12 in scoring D for 1st time since '91.
— Adam Jude (@A_Jude) January 8, 2026
Kwiatkowski's not going anywhere, as @Realdawg247 noted. Guess here still is Oregon settles on ex-UW DC Justin Wilcox.
— Adam Jude (@A_Jude) January 8, 2026
