The USC football team made three coaching hires official Tuesday afternoon, elevating one current staff member and bringing in two new coaches.
Mike Ekeler was hired as the special teams coordinator/linebackers coach, Paul Gonzales was hired to coach the safeties and Skyler Jones was elevated to defensive tackles coach.
Ekeler is returning to USC after previously serving as the Trojans’ linebackers coach in 2013.
“Mike’s special teams and linebacker units are elite,” USC head coach Lincoln Riley said in a press release, “and he brings 23 years of Power Four experience on staffs that have produced some of the nation’s finest defenses and special teams.”
He’s been coaching special teams for the past decade, most recently at Nebraska. The Cornhuskers blocked three field goals and two punts and did not allow any blocked punts or field goals in 2025.
Nebraska was 12th nationally in kick return defense and 13th in yards per kick return that season under Ekeler, who also coached special teams and outside linebackers at Tennessee from 2021-24 as well as special teams at North Texas in 2020.
Pro Football Focus ranked USC 124th out of 136 FBS teams when it came to special teams after the 2025 season, giving the Trojans a 64.6 grade.
Gonzales worked alongside new USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson for 13 years at TCU. He was a valuable asset in teaching Patterson’s 4-2-5 defensive scheme, according to former Horned Frogs offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse.
“We’re talking about conveying a new language to a populace,” Newhouse, who became a fifth-round pick in the 2010 NFL draft. “(Patterson) needs a translator to get through to both the rest of the coaching staff and the kids.
“Paul Gonzales is a guy who was coaching under him for so long; he’ll be able to speed up that communication. I think it’s a vital hire.”
Last season, Gonzales was the defensive passing game coordinator/cornerbacks coach at Baylor. He oversaw the safeties and cornerbacks at different points of his tenure at TCU and helped the Frogs reach the College Football Playoff National Championship game in 2022.
Jones joined the USC coaching staff in 2024 and was an analyst for former co-defensive coordinator Eric Henderson, who was hired as the Washington Commanders’ defensive line coach Feb. 10.
“He has earned this opportunity by consistently developing high-level performers, building meaningful relationships with our players, and demonstrating his commitment to the standard of excellence we expect in our program,” Riley said in a press release.
Jones was also a defensive analyst at Oregon in 2023 and was Henderson’s assistant defensive line coach for the Rams in 2022.
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