Penn State has found its next defensive coordinator - and it’s a name that rings loud in Happy Valley.
The Nittany Lions are bringing back one of their own, with the hiring of a former standout safety who played under Joe Paterno from 2008 to 2011. As a sophomore, he earned a starting role on a team that finished 11-2 and cracked the top 10 in the national rankings. He held onto that starting job through his senior year - which also happened to be the final season of Paterno’s legendary tenure.
After college, he took a shot at the pros. He signed with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2012 but was released late in training camp.
A brief stint with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats followed, but that door closed quickly too. Still, it didn’t take long for him to find his true calling on the sidelines.
At just 25, he kicked off his coaching career with the Jets as a seasonal intern in 2014. From there, he followed head coach Rex Ryan to Buffalo, spending two seasons as a defensive assistant with the Bills. That was just the beginning of a coaching journey that would take him across the NFL and back to the college ranks.
He joined his father Anthony Lynn’s staff with the Los Angeles Chargers for a season before heading to Houston, where he served as the Texans' assistant secondary coach in 2018 and 2019, then took over the full secondary in 2020. In 2021, he landed with John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens, coaching safeties for two seasons - a role that sharpened his ability to develop talent in the back end.
But the college game came calling again, and in 2023, he took over as defensive coordinator at UCLA. What he did there turned heads.
In just one season, he transformed a Bruins defense that had ranked 92nd in scoring into the 14th-best unit in the country. That kind of turnaround doesn’t go unnoticed.
It earned him a cross-town move to USC, where he inherited a defense that had struggled mightily under the previous coordinator, Alex Grinch. In 2023, the Trojans were near the bottom of the pack - 121st out of 133 teams in scoring defense.
But under Lynn’s guidance, they climbed to 58th in 2024, and then to 49th this past season. That’s not just improvement - that’s a defense learning how to compete again.
Now, he returns to where it all started. This time, not as a player, but as the man tasked with leading a defense that has consistently been among the nation’s best. Penn State has built a reputation for fielding top-10 defensive units, and now they’re handing the keys to one of their own - someone who knows the culture, understands the expectations, and has proven he can elevate a unit quickly.
The Nittany Lions didn’t just hire a coach. They brought home a leader who’s walked their path, worn their jersey, and now returns with a wealth of experience from both the NFL and college sidelines.
This hire isn’t just about Xs and Os - it’s about identity. And Penn State just made a statement.