USC has found a new special teams coordinator.
Nebraska special teams coordinator Mike Ekeler is joining the Trojans’ football staff for the 2026 season, a person familiar with the hire but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times.
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Ekeler spent just one season in Lincoln but managed to transform many of the Huskers’ special teams operations. Nebraska went from 92nd in kickoff coverage in 2024 to 12th in 2025. The punt coverage (114th to 14th), kickoff return (100th to 13th) and punt return teams (111th to 17th) also experienced similarly significant leaps.
Now he’ll take the reins of the Trojans special teams, which were lacking in many of those areas last season. What that means for Ryan Dougherty, who spent the last two years as special teams coordinator, is still unclear. It’s possible he could remain on staff in a new role.
Read more: Lincoln Riley vowed to fix the Trojans’ defense, but it faltered again in Alamo Bowl
Under Dougherty last season, USC ranked 132nd in punt coverage, albeit with a limited sample size, 129th in kickoff coverage — giving up 26.3 yards per return — and 123rd in kickoff return.
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USC was stellar in the kicking game, as former walk-on Ryon Sayeri knocked through a school record 21 field goals. Sayeri will return in 2026, while USC has added a new punter, Lachlan Carrigan, who spent last season at Memphis.
Ekeler has previously worked at USC, coaching linebackers under Lane Kiffin in 2013. The Trojans ranked in the top 20 in run defense that season under Ekeler. But Kiffin was fired five games into the year and Ekeler didn’t return under new coach Steve Sarkisian.
He took on coaching special teams after that upon arriving at Georgia in 2014 and bounce back and forth from there between being a special teams coordinator and coaching on the defensie end. Since 2019, Ekeler has primarily coached special teams, with stops at Kansas, North Texas and Tennessee before landing at Nebraska.
With Ekeler’s hire official, USC is inching closer to finalizing its 2026 staff. But the Trojans still need to add a defensive coordinator. That search is now in its final stages.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
