How USC Firing Coach Clay Helton Could Impact UCLA
The 36 hour delay led to many thinking it wasn't going to happen just yet, but it finally did.
Clay Helton is out at USC.
No more second and third chances for the now-former Trojans head coach.
The straw that broke the camel's back, evidently, was USC football's (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12) 42-28 loss to Stanford (1-1, 1-0 Pac-12) on Saturday night. The Trojans came into the game ranked No. 14 in the country, while the Cardinal were a garbage time touchdown away from getting shut out by mid-tier Big 12 opponent Kansas State in Week 1.
There had been plenty of back-breaking defeats for USC under Helton – the 2017 and 2020 Pac-12 championship games chief among them, the latter of which cost them an undefeated season and a shot at a New Year's Six Bowl. Losing 41-22 to Stanford back in 2015 didn't do the program many favors either, nor did their losses to Ohio State in the 2017 Cotton Bowl or UCLA toward the tail end of the 2018 regular season.
A 5-7 campaign in 2019 didn't end up costing Helton his job, since the team was only two years removed from a Rose Bowl victory and was 21-6 in the previous two seasons.
Now, the Trojans are far enough removed from that brief era of high-end success for USC Athletic Director Mike Bohn to rip the band-aid off and send Helton packing.
Helton was 45-24 as the Trojans' head coach and posted a .740 winning percentage in Pac-12 play. Since quarterback Sam Darnold left for the NFL Draft, however, Helton was 19-14 overall.
Many UCLA fans had their fare share of fun at Helton's expense throughout his seven years as the Trojans' head coach – credit where credit is due, BruinReportOnline's David Woods has put on an absolute masterclass of sarcasm and trolling done right on Twitter over the past few days.
There's a good reason the Bruin faithful had long been pushing for the Trojans to hold on to Helton just a little longer, despite the fact he went 5-1 against UCLA during his tenure.
Helton proved time and time again he was unable to maximize USC's potential and hit the ceiling established by Pete Carroll, John McKay and others. Even when UCLA bottomed out, Bruin fans could rejoice in their crosstown rival struggling with their identity, so close yet so far away from national success.
Firing Helton doesn't guarantee USC will return to the mountaintop of the college football landscape, but it does give the Trojans a chance to start over and make a real push.
In all likelihood, USC won't lock up another coach until late November once the carousel really gets rolling. Until then, they could have players enter the transfer portal, local five-star recruits decommit and more, leaving UCLA as the most well-equipped candidate to pick up the pieces and use 2021 as a true catapult year.
Chip Kelly and the Bruins better start doing that fast though, since the second the Trojans find their next leading man, the ball is back in USC's court.
The early signing day for the class of 2022 is three months away. USC has 10 commits at the moment, two of which are rated as five-stars in the 247Sports Composite and another three of which are four-stars.
Defensive back Domani Jackson, a five-star USC commit ranked No. 5 in the entire class of 2022 by the 247Sports Composite, told 247Sports he had been in close contact UCLA's staff even prior to Helton's firing. And even though he said he remains committed to USC, Jackson also admitted how fond he was of Helton.
“Man, Clay was my guy,” Jackson said to 247Sports. “He was my favorite coach, I really liked him a lot so this is kind of disappointing."
Four-star defensive lineman Jay Toia committed to and signed with USC last winter, even enrolling there for spring camp before eventually transferring to UCLA early in the summer. Surely there are more Los Angeles area players who could take the trip up to Westwood this offseason should their heart desire.
Poaching these recruits and transfers won't be easy, especially with top-tier recruiter Donte Williams stepping in as interim coach, and it surely shouldn't distract UCLA from securing the targets they think will fit best. But the clock is ticking and beating USC in just one single recruiting cycle could mark a massive shift in Southern California recruiting.
Whether it's Williams, Penn State's James Franklin, Cincinnati's Luke Fickell, the Kansas City Chiefs' Eric Bieniemy, former Washington coach Chris Peterson or former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, USC is very likely going to reel in the biggest fish on the market this offseason, and they will all do just fine in recruiting once he arrives.
The Bruins have a small window to operate in – both in building momentum locally and on the recruiting trails – and the stakes are as high as they've ever been.
If UCLA can win, attract talent and kick USC while its down, that could mean great things for Kelly in the immediate future.
It's only a matter of time before the Trojans are really back, as long as they don't botch this coaching search, so the Bruins need to make the most of their moment and win over Los Angeles in a big way this fall.
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