Trojans add Paul Gonzales to defensive coaching staff

Gary Patterson is bringing a former longtime ally with him to USC.

The Trojans are set to hire Baylor’s Paul Gonzales as their defensive backs coach, according to multiple reports, reuniting him with the team’s new defensive coordinator after they had worked together at Texas Christian for a decade.

At Baylor, Gonzales was the pass game coordinator and cornerbacks coach last season for a defense that gave up 194.9 yards per game, ranking No. 31 nationally. He had forged a reputation as one of the nation’s premier defensive backs coaches in 13 seasons at TCU, first under Patterson from 2012-21 and later under successor Sonny Dykes.

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Among those Gonzales has coached are Tre’von Moehrig, the 2020 Jim Thorpe Award winner as the nation’s top defensive back and eventual second-round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders. Over one seven-year span, Gonzales helped develop six safeties into NFL draft picks.

Safeties Millard Bradford and Bud Clark helped TCU reach the 2022 College Football Playoff championship game. Clark finished that season with five interceptions, including one he returned for 41 yards against Michigan in a CFP national semifinal.

At TCU, Gonzales spent seven seasons coaching safeties, three coaching cornerbacks and three more coaching safeties and linebackers as a graduate assistant. He made previous coaching stops at Pacific as a defensive backs coach and UC Davis as a defensive assistant after starting his coaching career as an assistant coach at Pioneer High in Woodland, Calif.

A native of San Jose, Gonzales played baseball for four seasons at UC Davis as both a starting pitcher and a reliever.

Gonzales replaces Doug Belk, the secondary coach who was not retained as part of the defensive staff changes.