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Once the rumors of former USC defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn for Penn State began to spread, talk quickly developed surrounding the Trojans and former Texas DC Pete Kwiatkowski. Widely regarded as one of the top defensive coordinators in college football, Kwiatkowski was surprisingly fired by the Longhorns in December. With the Trojans having a sudden opening at the position, a partnership between the two seemingly made too much sense—especially given that Kwiatkowski and USC athletic director Jennifer Cohen previously worked together at Washington.
However, the Kwiatkowski-USC rumors suffered a major blow over the weekend. On Sunday, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic reported that Kwiatkowski has emerged as a strong target for the defensive coordinator position at Stanford.
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Obviously, this is a rather shocking development. Aside from USC potentially missing out on Kwiatkowski—which would certainly be a major blow—the notion that the consensus top defensive coordinator on the market would land at Stanford of all schools is not something that very many people would have predicted.
If the Trojans are unable to land Kwiatkowski, they will have to turn elsewhere in their DC search. While there are plenty of other quality candidates out there, it will be difficult for USC to find someone else with Kwiatkowski's accolades and proven track record of producing strong defenses.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC football's path to hiring Pete Kwiatkowski gets more difficult
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