Pac-12 News: USC Fires Clay Helton
Apparently getting dominated by Stanford was more than the USC administration could take, because Trojans coach Clay Helton was fired Monday after just two games of the 2021 season.
Athletic director Mike Bohn made the announcement via twitter.
USC is 1-1 this season. The Trojans beat San Jose State 30-7 in their opener, a game that was closer than the score suggests, then lost this past Saturday at home to Stanford 42-28, and that game was not as close as the score indicates as the Cardinal held a 42-13 lead several minutes into the fourth quarter. USC had 111 yards in penalties in that loss.
The Trojans were ranked No. 14 heading into the Stanford game, but are currently unranked.
Associate head coach Donte Williams will serve as USC’s interim head coach. Williams is the first Black head coach in USC football history.
The Trojans will now try to hire a big-name coach who can lead the Trojans back to their glory days. The USC coaching job had long been considered one of the most attractive in the country, but it’s unclear how attractive that job is now.
Some of the people being mentioned as possible candidates for the USC job include Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell (USC AD Mike Bohn was Cincinnati's AD when Fickell was hired there), former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, Mississippi (and former USC) head coach Lane Kiffin, Penn State head coach James Franklin, former Washington head coach Chris Petersen and Iowa State coach Matt Cambell. Even the name of Oregon coach Mario Cristobal is being bandied about as a possible USC candidate.
Helton had a 46–24 record at USC, but the team is 19-15 since 2018.
Helton's tenure at USC started well. The Trojans finished ranked No. 3 in the country in 2016, which was Helton’s first full season as USC’s head coach. USC won the Pac-12 title in 2017, but slipped to 5-7 the following year.
USC went 8-5 overall and 7-2 in the Pac-12 in 2019, and went 5-1 last season when the Trojans wound up ranked No. 21. However, USC lost the Pac-12 championship game to Oregon in the pandemic-shortened season.
Evidently the desire to get rid of Helton outweighed concerns about the financial burden of a buyout USC must pay to Helton. As a private institution, USC does not need to make the amount of the buyout public, but it is assumed that is a substantial amount.
Since Pete Carroll left following the 2009 season, USC has had a parade of head coaches who had limited success. That included interim head coaches Ed Orgeron and Helton, who was in interim head coach in 2013 before later landing the head coaching job.
Here is the list of coaches since Carroll left (with each coach’s record in parentheses).
Lane Kiffin -- 2010-2013 (28-15)
Clay Helton -- 2013 (1-0)
Ed Orgeron -- 2013 (6-2)
Steve Sarkisian -- 2014-2015 (12-6)
Clay Helton 2015-2021 (46-24)
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Saturday post by former USC star Keyshawn Johnson, a former supporter of Helton:
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Cover photo of Clay Helton and Stanford coach David Shaw is by Kirby Lee, USA TODAY Sports
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