Tim Drevno’s return to USC Football is a homecoming

Tim Drevno is back with USC Football as the Trojans running backs coach. That means the former Michigan offensive coordinator is back home.

USC Football’s new running backs coach had his debut at the Trojans first Spring Camp practice of 2018 on Tuesday. It was a homecoming in more ways than one.

Tim Drevno is a familiar name, if not a familiar face. He coached USC’s offensive line in 2014, but the connection goes deeper than that.

“This is home,” Drevno said, extolling the virtues of his new, but familiar surroundings. “There’s nothing like paradise with the sun shining down on your forehead.”

Having grown up in Torance, Drevno played football locally. He spent two years at El Camino Junior College before transferring to Cal State Fullerton. But those were fallback options.

“I dreamed to play at USC,” Drevno said.

His dad went to USC. His sister went to USC. He was firmly a part of the Trojan Family, watching USC games at the Coliseum as a kid.

Unfortunately for the offensive lineman, he says he wasn’t good enough to wear the cardinal and gold as a player.

As a coach though, things played out differently.

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Drevno cut his teeth at the likes of Montana State, UNLV, San Jose State, Idaho and San Diego before landing his first major position with Jim Harbaugh at Stanford. From there he earned enough respect as a coach climb the ladder to the San Francisco 49ers. By 2014, he was more than good enough to join Steve Sarkisian’s staff at USC.

It was a short-lived tenure, but not because he was found to be lacking. In fact, it was a promotion offered by his former boss, Harbaugh, to be the offensive coordinator at Michigan which drew him away.

After three years with the Wolverines, Drevno decided it was time to part ways. That’s when Clay Helton came calling.

A return to USC wasn’t in the cards. When word got out that he was leaving Michigan in late February, he wasn’t thinking about Los Angeles as a destination.

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“It just happened,” Drevno said. But the opportunity to return to USC gave him chills. So he took it.