USC Fires Head Coach Clay Helton After Blowout Loss to Stanford

Helton was with the Trojans since 2010 and was appointed to head coach in 2015. Since then, the team is 36–13.

USC athletic director Mike Bohn announced that football coach Clay Helton has been fired. Cornerbacks coach Donte Williams will serve as interim head coach. 

"During the past two off-seasons we provided every resource necessary for our football program to compete for championships," Bohn said in a release. "The added resources carried significantly increased expectations for our team's performance, and it is already evident that, despite the enhancements, those expectations would not be met without a change in leadership."

Bohn added that his goal is for USC football to win championships and he will conduct a national search for the program's next head coach over the next couple of months. 

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"This season is just getting started, and we have the opportunity to really do something special with this team and this program," he said.

Helton has been with the program since 2010 and held a myriad of assistant coaching positions before being promoted to head coach in 2015. Since then, USC is 36–13 but is coming off a 42–28 loss to Stanford and are 1–1 to start 2021.

Williams joined USC in 2020 but before that was a cornerbacks coach at programs like Oregon, Arizona and Nebraska. He has never served as a college head coach before.